Hi All,
Long post ahead with my thoughts on all of the mons ranked S to B-, giving my viewpoints on their positions and justifying why I believe they should rise / fall / remain the same. From B- onward I'll only comment on mons that I feel should rise / fall beacuse I don't see a point in justifying all the mediocre mons in a mediocre ranking. Not going to touch on mons that should be unranked because that sparks discussion that isn't as important as the more pressing matter of mons in the upper viability bracket
This took a long time so please do feel free to agree / disagree as that's what the VR is for, don't forget that even though there's a council it's a big community thing
Key:
S Rank
Mimikyu – Rightful position. Huge utility, great typing, broken ability, difficult to scout but by no means an impossible mon. The staple face of an S rank threat
S- Rank
Darmanitan-Galar – Proof that predictability doesn’t equate to viability. Only utilises two main sets but does so extremely well with the tools it has thanks to gorilla tactics. There’s lure room with stuff like belly drum, but scarf + band place this mon at the perfect spot in S-
Jirachi – Scarf makes this mon annoying but more relevant are the bulky sets that have shown up in premier league, with calm mind / iron defence + stored power sets gaining usage and proving to be annoying to deal with. Like mimikyu with great versatility and typing, but nowhere near to the same extent. Sits well in S-
A+ Rank
Dracovish – Same deal with darm. Mainly utilises scarf and band, but roseli / haban are also nice lures that can do the job. Despite the meta being quite prepared for this mon, its sheer power allows it to still hold a dominant position which can’t be ignored when building. A+ is great here
Sylveon – Great natural bulk, mono-fairy isn’t bad by any means in this meta, hits really hard with pixilate and has capacity to break down majority of fat mons with either yawn + fake tears or specs. Does what it needs to do very well, A+ is its home.
A Rank
Dragapult – I’m glad this mon has dropped. Nothing has dramatically changed about its sets or what it does, but the developing meta has seen rises in mons like Primarina and Avalugg always made me question where this mon was meant to sit. Like it in A
A- Rank
Arcanine – I personally would want to advocate this mon for A, but personal opinion and use doesn’t justify where it sits in the metagame. Great utility with bulk wisp sets and access to annoying moves like burn up and snarl. Offensive is also a really good option which hasn’t been explored much, boasting an impressive offensive movepool with coverage options such as outrage, bulldoze and play rough. Intimidate is always a great ability and only aids arcanine in the matchups it likes being in. Great in A-
Corsola-Galar – Does exactly the same thing now as it did day one of swsh. A-
Corviknight – Similar to Corsola but with some developments in EVs and items. Taunt / roost / iron defence / iron head is without a doubt the staple set, but has many other options within its movepool to explore and maybe work with as the metagame continues to develop. Fat with awesome typing, recovery, and taunt to break down mons fatter than itself. Staple A- pokemon
Crustle – Another mon that sits perfectly in A-. Sturdy will never be a bad ability in 1v1, but what makes it great is the mon its paired with. Crustle utilises sturdy and boasts respectable attack which is ideally paired with choice band, or an item to support the shell smash set such as lum berry, mental herb or hard stone. I really like the lum shell smash set and think this mon has great matchups against a good majority of S to A threats.
Haxorus – I love this mon so much and wish I could advocate for its rise, but A- is where it belongs. I find taunt / sd / outrage / quake haban is probably its best set at the moment, being able to break past bulky threats like corviknight, arcanine, corsola and rotom-wash whilst luring in dragons like dracovish, dragapult and hydreigon and also mons with dragon coverage such as zeraora. Scarf and band are also great, being able to outspeed opposing scarfers like darm and in general just break lots with band. Strong mon, great stats, great abilities (unnerve is cool tech for the with scarf berry dragons and band for berry fairies).
Incineroar – This is a tricky one. I think that it still does exactly the same thing that It did pre necrozma ban, but now it does those things worse without necrozma around, alongside the decline in dragapult and the rise of primarina. Still good, but I think this mon should move from A- to B+
Primarina – This mon is insanely good right now. It doesn’t do anything special, but what it does do it does extremely well. Amazing typing both offensively and defensively, with the potential to distribute evs to make primarina fill in specific roles or be extremely solid in majority of matchups. Calm mind / encore is being explored and I feel this will become a very good set, alongside the already great existing sets of bulky mystic water / chilan, specs, the rare av / scarf, and weird lures like icy wind rindo. I think the PL usage says a lot for this mon as well. W1 - #12, W2 - #5, W3 - #4, W4 - #1, W5 - #1, W6 - #3. Not to associated usage with viability, but It’s relevant to mention. Prim is extremely good and I feel should move from A- to A+
Sawk – The Karate Kid sits nicely in A-. Not much to say about this mon, definitely too good for B+ but nowhere good enough for A. Does what you need it to do without much variation, a good meta pick
Whimsicott – Cheese alone can’t make this mon better than it already is. A- is nice and can be unpredictable with the right berry at team preview. A very splashable mon that can easily patch up holes in your team. Having moonblast access is nice and a viable choice for some specific wins, but in general taunt is much better, allowing it to cheese fat stuff. Disgusting but warranted in A-
Zeraora – I feel this mon has more potential than what has been shown. Band is standard and very good, though I feel as if scarf and bulk up both have a lot of untapped potential. Scarf only needs 24 evs to outpace scarf rachi, which allows for 252+ adamant in attack and plenty of room for bulk. It reliably beats darmanitan, dracovish, dragapult, corviknight, haxorus, primarina, opposing zeraora, cinderace, togekiss, excadrill and more that I could mindlessly list. When you couple this with band and bulk up sets, I honestly feel as if zeraora’s potential is being slept on and thus would like to see consideration for A to be made, however A- is also completely warranted and also an appropriate spot for it.
B+ Rank
Aegislash – Struggles in this meta. The nerfs aren’t the only factor but they do make a contribution to aegi’s lacklustre kill potential. This mon really needs boosts to muscle past the plethora of fat threats within the meta right now, almost forcing it to run weakness policy for better matchups and capacity to ko. Swords dance exists which is mediocre, and choiced sets have the same problem being that they just don’t kill. Almost want this at B, but I think what it does beat is enough for B+
Avalugg – Avalugg is extremely good right now. Iron defence muscles past majority of physical threats, and choice band straight up deletes a plethora of strong mons like mimikyu, darmanitan, excadrill, whimsicott, zeraora, aegislash and cinderace. Mirror coat access is also nice on band but I find it can be easily scouted and feel as if quake is better for broader matchups. The T H U G G is very deserving of a raise from B+ to A-
Cinderace – Strong mon with some nice tools under its belt. Sub liechi is naturally its best set, but band is nothing to be scoffed at either and even scarf can be useful on the right team. A prime example of a B+ pokemon
Excadrill – Can be very strong or very shit depending on the matchup, which is why I don’t like this mon in general. Always being able to beat whimsicott as a steel is nice with rapid spin given that most whimsicott in this meta run babiri, but I feel as if there are definitely better scarfers and band breakers to use. SD isn’t a bad set but in general is lacklustre in comparison to haxorus, which I feel does the same thing but better with taunt. Yeah exca is a great fairy answer, but feels like it lacks in many other components. Probably stays comfortable in B+
Hydreigon – This is a great pokemon that’s capable of running many viable sets which can be difficult to determine at team preview. Taunt / nasty plot is an amazing breaker set, with haban and scarf / specs also within its pool of great sets. Needs some momentum behind it before people jump on to this thing and it becomes a threat to be accounted for in building. Can’t do jack against fairies, but neither can most of the other dragons. I think this warrants a rise from B+ to A- at the very least, with really solid potential to possibly rise further
Kyurem – I hate this pokemon. I think that it’s weak in comparison to other dragons running around and it has bad defensive tying which isn’t good for a mon that wants to pressure stall. Chople glaciate sets are cool lures, but overall this mon is still unexplored and doesn’t know its place in the meta. A drop from B+ to B would best suit
Mandibuzz – Sits well here at B+. Prankster immunity is always a good thing to have alongside great bulk with a taunt that doesn’t need much speed investment, freeing up evs for more important things. Foul play is an amazing move which it boasts over corvi, but I think that general susceptibility to fairies hurts it a bit. If you could find a pokemon next to the word solid in the dictionary, this would be it
Togekiss – Ironically continues to be used as a scarf flinch mon when it has much greater utility with nasty plot + thunder wave. Has untapped potential (which Nalei has discovered ooooo) but can be very shaky in a lot of matchups at team preview. Perfect for B+
B Rank
Aromatisse – People don’t know how to use this, nor do they typically know how to play against this. Definitely one of the sleeper threats of this meta, but not difficult to account for either. Good fit in B
Blastoise – A little unexplored. Wacan counter and shell smash sets have the potential for blastoise to maybe rise in the future, but for the current meta there’s nothing wrong with it in B.
Conkeldurr – Not bad but not great either. Amazing physical bulk allows for it to do very well against opposing physical threats with its own band / flame orb set, but that’s about the gist of it. I don’t think AV is a good set for conk, it needs to be able to break stuff. B material in the current state
Golisopod – Needs something to help it back on its feet. It has stupid bulk and very respectable attack, but makes me wonder why you’d want this over something along the lines of crustle / arcanine / sawk etc. I’d advocate for a drop from B to B-, poor offensive typing doesn’t help it out either.
Grimmsnarl – Hasn’t changed what it does since pre-home. Did it alright back then, however certainly doesn’t do it as well now. Too many threats around for it to do its unique thing. Same deal with Golisopod, B to B-
Kommo-o –A unique mon but doesn’t have the tools to stay a threat worth noting in this meta. Hoping that there’s a great set yet to be discovered as this is a really cool mon with neat typing, but for now I think it stays in B
Milotic – Tricky where to place this. Flame orb + marvel scale gives milotic some very respectable bulk, which can be further enhanced with coil and stall out fat mons with recover / rest. I think the problem is that milotic needs the opportunity to do what it wants to but often doesn’t have the turns or the passive recovery to keep up with hard hits. Cool mon, decent in B
Rhyperior – I love this pokemon but there are far too many threats around which don’t allow it to invest in attack and break walls like it wants to. Very lacklustre when you compare it to crustle as they largely do similar things yet rhyperior finds itself having to always be careful of raw ohkos. Might regain a niche in the future, but right now B to B- would be appropriate
Rillaboom – This mon is definitely too low. Drum beating is such a strong and useful move, which when coupled with leech seed + a combination of protect / sub / taunt gives you a really versatile mon that can win matchups you wouldn’t expect. Offensive sub liechi is nothing to laugh at either, with coverage in earthquake and capacity to hit super hard with +1 in overgrow territory. Would definitely raise this mon to B+
Rotom-Heat – I think this mon is underrated. Typing is amazing offensively with the added bonus of resisting fairy, allowing it to take on mons like primarina, corviknight, mandibuzz, venusaur, rillaboom and whimsicott. Electroweb is some cool tech which can improve mimikyu matchup vastly, and sub is great vs avalugg and sylveon. Nasty plot, specs, scarf and life orb are all great sets which easily gives this mon a comfortable slot within B+
Rotom-Wash – Similar to rotom-heat with what it does. Beats a lot of the same mons but can more reliably run a great set of wisp + kee berry. Can’t muscle past grasses like heat can, but heat can’t run wisp kee as well as this either. Water is a much better defensive typing. Wash can also run all the same sets with similar results. I’d also place rotom-wash in B+
Snorlax – I’ve explored band a bit and think that’s the set I like the most, even though belly drum + yawn is neat but I feel as if it relies a bit too much on sleep turns. Ridiculous bulk great coverage, but not amazing either. Fine within B
Steelix – The result of what happens when people jump on a mon and explore the possibilities. Weakness policy and torment have come up, with torment being able to beat any choice mon which is definitely notable. The problem I have with that is that you then surrender yourself to many more poor matchups, which overall I feel would have been better if you’d just run band. New tools have stopped it from dropping but I don’t think they’ll make it rise either. B
Tyranitar – An amazing pokemon for the right team, but has extreme 4mss and can’t ever be ev’d for everything it wants. Bad defensive typing which is where lots of evs have to be bulk invested to cover up its many weaknesses, but offensively it hits hard in return if you can manage to stomach one. Definitely a pokemon for the more creative builders, but not one which holds general metagame relevance. B is fine
Weezing-Galar – This mon is under the radar. Ability is amazing which allows it to reliably beat dracovish, darmanitan, sylveon, avalugg and most mimikyu while also matching up quite well vs other high ranked mons. Typing is good both offensively and defensively, but the ability + movepool allows for specs to be a super solid set worthy of pushing weezing up to B+
B- Rank (As stated at the start I’m only going to comment on the mons that I think should rise / fall from here until the end of the VR. Not going to bother with putting mons into UR because people always complain about those when there are more pressing matters to discuss)
Goodra – This one is personal bias, but goodra has a very versatile movepool and great lure potential with laser focus + acid spray. Plenty of room for specific sets to patch up elements of otherwise lacking teams, though really needs some creative thinking. A bit like tyranitar in that sense. Would recommend B
Keldeo – I think keldeo is really bad right now. It’s outclassed as both a bulky water and an offensive water. Scarfers outpace it easily, and having scarf itself leaves much to be desired regarding kill potential. Specs patches up that problem but lacks coverage. I’d want to see this in C+
C+ Rank
Diggersby – A bit more personal bias here but much more justified, but this mon is definitely B- material. Choice band is extremely strong, much stronger than its other normal type banded counterpart bewear. Swords dance + laser focus + giga impact + earthquake / gastro acid is great and leaves plenty of room for item variety, whether that’s silk scarf for immediate breaking potential or something along the lines of lum for fatter threats that you need to sd against like arcanine or kee rotom. Can also sd + laser focus into corviknight because nobody right now is going to be taunting a diggersby with corvi. Gastro acid is niche but I feel obligated to mention it for its matchup vs stall, specifically type:null (sorry VG)
Type: Null – People are starting to see the potential in this mon. Dummy fat and can’t get crit, so now there’s nothing else for you to blame your losses on when you ultimately lose the bo5 in seasonal to the random that brought a level 1 togedomaru. Unfortunately it’s completely shut down by taunt and is susceptible to encore, but not being able to get crit is huge when you’re using stall mons. Definitely better than its current rank, B- is appropriate
C Rank
Venusaur – Sub petaya is an underrated set that should definitely be putting venu a step above everything it’s surrounded by down here. Hard countering whimsicott is always nice, and can be a stally shit itself with leech seed. Just feels too low considering what it’s already shown, could like to see C+
Long post ahead with my thoughts on all of the mons ranked S to B-, giving my viewpoints on their positions and justifying why I believe they should rise / fall / remain the same. From B- onward I'll only comment on mons that I feel should rise / fall beacuse I don't see a point in justifying all the mediocre mons in a mediocre ranking. Not going to touch on mons that should be unranked because that sparks discussion that isn't as important as the more pressing matter of mons in the upper viability bracket
This took a long time so please do feel free to agree / disagree as that's what the VR is for, don't forget that even though there's a council it's a big community thing
Key:
- Bold and green = rise
- Bold and blue = stay
- Bold and red = fall
S Rank
Mimikyu – Rightful position. Huge utility, great typing, broken ability, difficult to scout but by no means an impossible mon. The staple face of an S rank threatS- Rank
Darmanitan-Galar – Proof that predictability doesn’t equate to viability. Only utilises two main sets but does so extremely well with the tools it has thanks to gorilla tactics. There’s lure room with stuff like belly drum, but scarf + band place this mon at the perfect spot in S- Jirachi – Scarf makes this mon annoying but more relevant are the bulky sets that have shown up in premier league, with calm mind / iron defence + stored power sets gaining usage and proving to be annoying to deal with. Like mimikyu with great versatility and typing, but nowhere near to the same extent. Sits well in S-A+ Rank
Dracovish – Same deal with darm. Mainly utilises scarf and band, but roseli / haban are also nice lures that can do the job. Despite the meta being quite prepared for this mon, its sheer power allows it to still hold a dominant position which can’t be ignored when building. A+ is great here Sylveon – Great natural bulk, mono-fairy isn’t bad by any means in this meta, hits really hard with pixilate and has capacity to break down majority of fat mons with either yawn + fake tears or specs. Does what it needs to do very well, A+ is its home.A Rank
Dragapult – I’m glad this mon has dropped. Nothing has dramatically changed about its sets or what it does, but the developing meta has seen rises in mons like Primarina and Avalugg always made me question where this mon was meant to sit. Like it in AA- Rank
Arcanine – I personally would want to advocate this mon for A, but personal opinion and use doesn’t justify where it sits in the metagame. Great utility with bulk wisp sets and access to annoying moves like burn up and snarl. Offensive is also a really good option which hasn’t been explored much, boasting an impressive offensive movepool with coverage options such as outrage, bulldoze and play rough. Intimidate is always a great ability and only aids arcanine in the matchups it likes being in. Great in A- Corsola-Galar – Does exactly the same thing now as it did day one of swsh. A- Corviknight – Similar to Corsola but with some developments in EVs and items. Taunt / roost / iron defence / iron head is without a doubt the staple set, but has many other options within its movepool to explore and maybe work with as the metagame continues to develop. Fat with awesome typing, recovery, and taunt to break down mons fatter than itself. Staple A- pokemon Crustle – Another mon that sits perfectly in A-. Sturdy will never be a bad ability in 1v1, but what makes it great is the mon its paired with. Crustle utilises sturdy and boasts respectable attack which is ideally paired with choice band, or an item to support the shell smash set such as lum berry, mental herb or hard stone. I really like the lum shell smash set and think this mon has great matchups against a good majority of S to A threats. Haxorus – I love this mon so much and wish I could advocate for its rise, but A- is where it belongs. I find taunt / sd / outrage / quake haban is probably its best set at the moment, being able to break past bulky threats like corviknight, arcanine, corsola and rotom-wash whilst luring in dragons like dracovish, dragapult and hydreigon and also mons with dragon coverage such as zeraora. Scarf and band are also great, being able to outspeed opposing scarfers like darm and in general just break lots with band. Strong mon, great stats, great abilities (unnerve is cool tech for the with scarf berry dragons and band for berry fairies). Incineroar – This is a tricky one. I think that it still does exactly the same thing that It did pre necrozma ban, but now it does those things worse without necrozma around, alongside the decline in dragapult and the rise of primarina. Still good, but I think this mon should move from A- to B+ Primarina – This mon is insanely good right now. It doesn’t do anything special, but what it does do it does extremely well. Amazing typing both offensively and defensively, with the potential to distribute evs to make primarina fill in specific roles or be extremely solid in majority of matchups. Calm mind / encore is being explored and I feel this will become a very good set, alongside the already great existing sets of bulky mystic water / chilan, specs, the rare av / scarf, and weird lures like icy wind rindo. I think the PL usage says a lot for this mon as well. W1 - #12, W2 - #5, W3 - #4, W4 - #1, W5 - #1, W6 - #3. Not to associated usage with viability, but It’s relevant to mention. Prim is extremely good and I feel should move from A- to A+ Sawk – The Karate Kid sits nicely in A-. Not much to say about this mon, definitely too good for B+ but nowhere good enough for A. Does what you need it to do without much variation, a good meta pick Whimsicott – Cheese alone can’t make this mon better than it already is. A- is nice and can be unpredictable with the right berry at team preview. A very splashable mon that can easily patch up holes in your team. Having moonblast access is nice and a viable choice for some specific wins, but in general taunt is much better, allowing it to cheese fat stuff. Disgusting but warranted in A- Zeraora – I feel this mon has more potential than what has been shown. Band is standard and very good, though I feel as if scarf and bulk up both have a lot of untapped potential. Scarf only needs 24 evs to outpace scarf rachi, which allows for 252+ adamant in attack and plenty of room for bulk. It reliably beats darmanitan, dracovish, dragapult, corviknight, haxorus, primarina, opposing zeraora, cinderace, togekiss, excadrill and more that I could mindlessly list. When you couple this with band and bulk up sets, I honestly feel as if zeraora’s potential is being slept on and thus would like to see consideration for A to be made, however A- is also completely warranted and also an appropriate spot for it.B+ Rank
Aegislash – Struggles in this meta. The nerfs aren’t the only factor but they do make a contribution to aegi’s lacklustre kill potential. This mon really needs boosts to muscle past the plethora of fat threats within the meta right now, almost forcing it to run weakness policy for better matchups and capacity to ko. Swords dance exists which is mediocre, and choiced sets have the same problem being that they just don’t kill. Almost want this at B, but I think what it does beat is enough for B+ Avalugg – Avalugg is extremely good right now. Iron defence muscles past majority of physical threats, and choice band straight up deletes a plethora of strong mons like mimikyu, darmanitan, excadrill, whimsicott, zeraora, aegislash and cinderace. Mirror coat access is also nice on band but I find it can be easily scouted and feel as if quake is better for broader matchups. The T H U G G is very deserving of a raise from B+ to A- Cinderace – Strong mon with some nice tools under its belt. Sub liechi is naturally its best set, but band is nothing to be scoffed at either and even scarf can be useful on the right team. A prime example of a B+ pokemon Excadrill – Can be very strong or very shit depending on the matchup, which is why I don’t like this mon in general. Always being able to beat whimsicott as a steel is nice with rapid spin given that most whimsicott in this meta run babiri, but I feel as if there are definitely better scarfers and band breakers to use. SD isn’t a bad set but in general is lacklustre in comparison to haxorus, which I feel does the same thing but better with taunt. Yeah exca is a great fairy answer, but feels like it lacks in many other components. Probably stays comfortable in B+ Hydreigon – This is a great pokemon that’s capable of running many viable sets which can be difficult to determine at team preview. Taunt / nasty plot is an amazing breaker set, with haban and scarf / specs also within its pool of great sets. Needs some momentum behind it before people jump on to this thing and it becomes a threat to be accounted for in building. Can’t do jack against fairies, but neither can most of the other dragons. I think this warrants a rise from B+ to A- at the very least, with really solid potential to possibly rise further Kyurem – I hate this pokemon. I think that it’s weak in comparison to other dragons running around and it has bad defensive tying which isn’t good for a mon that wants to pressure stall. Chople glaciate sets are cool lures, but overall this mon is still unexplored and doesn’t know its place in the meta. A drop from B+ to B would best suit Mandibuzz – Sits well here at B+. Prankster immunity is always a good thing to have alongside great bulk with a taunt that doesn’t need much speed investment, freeing up evs for more important things. Foul play is an amazing move which it boasts over corvi, but I think that general susceptibility to fairies hurts it a bit. If you could find a pokemon next to the word solid in the dictionary, this would be it Togekiss – Ironically continues to be used as a scarf flinch mon when it has much greater utility with nasty plot + thunder wave. Has untapped potential (which Nalei has discovered ooooo) but can be very shaky in a lot of matchups at team preview. Perfect for B+B Rank
Aromatisse – People don’t know how to use this, nor do they typically know how to play against this. Definitely one of the sleeper threats of this meta, but not difficult to account for either. Good fit in B Blastoise – A little unexplored. Wacan counter and shell smash sets have the potential for blastoise to maybe rise in the future, but for the current meta there’s nothing wrong with it in B. Conkeldurr – Not bad but not great either. Amazing physical bulk allows for it to do very well against opposing physical threats with its own band / flame orb set, but that’s about the gist of it. I don’t think AV is a good set for conk, it needs to be able to break stuff. B material in the current state Golisopod – Needs something to help it back on its feet. It has stupid bulk and very respectable attack, but makes me wonder why you’d want this over something along the lines of crustle / arcanine / sawk etc. I’d advocate for a drop from B to B-, poor offensive typing doesn’t help it out either. Grimmsnarl – Hasn’t changed what it does since pre-home. Did it alright back then, however certainly doesn’t do it as well now. Too many threats around for it to do its unique thing. Same deal with Golisopod, B to B- Kommo-o –A unique mon but doesn’t have the tools to stay a threat worth noting in this meta. Hoping that there’s a great set yet to be discovered as this is a really cool mon with neat typing, but for now I think it stays in B Milotic – Tricky where to place this. Flame orb + marvel scale gives milotic some very respectable bulk, which can be further enhanced with coil and stall out fat mons with recover / rest. I think the problem is that milotic needs the opportunity to do what it wants to but often doesn’t have the turns or the passive recovery to keep up with hard hits. Cool mon, decent in B Rhyperior – I love this pokemon but there are far too many threats around which don’t allow it to invest in attack and break walls like it wants to. Very lacklustre when you compare it to crustle as they largely do similar things yet rhyperior finds itself having to always be careful of raw ohkos. Might regain a niche in the future, but right now B to B- would be appropriate Rillaboom – This mon is definitely too low. Drum beating is such a strong and useful move, which when coupled with leech seed + a combination of protect / sub / taunt gives you a really versatile mon that can win matchups you wouldn’t expect. Offensive sub liechi is nothing to laugh at either, with coverage in earthquake and capacity to hit super hard with +1 in overgrow territory. Would definitely raise this mon to B+ Rotom-Heat – I think this mon is underrated. Typing is amazing offensively with the added bonus of resisting fairy, allowing it to take on mons like primarina, corviknight, mandibuzz, venusaur, rillaboom and whimsicott. Electroweb is some cool tech which can improve mimikyu matchup vastly, and sub is great vs avalugg and sylveon. Nasty plot, specs, scarf and life orb are all great sets which easily gives this mon a comfortable slot within B+ Rotom-Wash – Similar to rotom-heat with what it does. Beats a lot of the same mons but can more reliably run a great set of wisp + kee berry. Can’t muscle past grasses like heat can, but heat can’t run wisp kee as well as this either. Water is a much better defensive typing. Wash can also run all the same sets with similar results. I’d also place rotom-wash in B+ Snorlax – I’ve explored band a bit and think that’s the set I like the most, even though belly drum + yawn is neat but I feel as if it relies a bit too much on sleep turns. Ridiculous bulk great coverage, but not amazing either. Fine within B Steelix – The result of what happens when people jump on a mon and explore the possibilities. Weakness policy and torment have come up, with torment being able to beat any choice mon which is definitely notable. The problem I have with that is that you then surrender yourself to many more poor matchups, which overall I feel would have been better if you’d just run band. New tools have stopped it from dropping but I don’t think they’ll make it rise either. B Tyranitar – An amazing pokemon for the right team, but has extreme 4mss and can’t ever be ev’d for everything it wants. Bad defensive typing which is where lots of evs have to be bulk invested to cover up its many weaknesses, but offensively it hits hard in return if you can manage to stomach one. Definitely a pokemon for the more creative builders, but not one which holds general metagame relevance. B is fine Weezing-Galar – This mon is under the radar. Ability is amazing which allows it to reliably beat dracovish, darmanitan, sylveon, avalugg and most mimikyu while also matching up quite well vs other high ranked mons. Typing is good both offensively and defensively, but the ability + movepool allows for specs to be a super solid set worthy of pushing weezing up to B+B- Rank (As stated at the start I’m only going to comment on the mons that I think should rise / fall from here until the end of the VR. Not going to bother with putting mons into UR because people always complain about those when there are more pressing matters to discuss)
Goodra – This one is personal bias, but goodra has a very versatile movepool and great lure potential with laser focus + acid spray. Plenty of room for specific sets to patch up elements of otherwise lacking teams, though really needs some creative thinking. A bit like tyranitar in that sense. Would recommend B Keldeo – I think keldeo is really bad right now. It’s outclassed as both a bulky water and an offensive water. Scarfers outpace it easily, and having scarf itself leaves much to be desired regarding kill potential. Specs patches up that problem but lacks coverage. I’d want to see this in C+C+ Rank
Diggersby – A bit more personal bias here but much more justified, but this mon is definitely B- material. Choice band is extremely strong, much stronger than its other normal type banded counterpart bewear. Swords dance + laser focus + giga impact + earthquake / gastro acid is great and leaves plenty of room for item variety, whether that’s silk scarf for immediate breaking potential or something along the lines of lum for fatter threats that you need to sd against like arcanine or kee rotom. Can also sd + laser focus into corviknight because nobody right now is going to be taunting a diggersby with corvi. Gastro acid is niche but I feel obligated to mention it for its matchup vs stall, specifically type:null (sorry VG) Type: Null – People are starting to see the potential in this mon. Dummy fat and can’t get crit, so now there’s nothing else for you to blame your losses on when you ultimately lose the bo5 in seasonal to the random that brought a level 1 togedomaru. Unfortunately it’s completely shut down by taunt and is susceptible to encore, but not being able to get crit is huge when you’re using stall mons. Definitely better than its current rank, B- is appropriateC Rank
Venusaur – Sub petaya is an underrated set that should definitely be putting venu a step above everything it’s surrounded by down here. Hard countering whimsicott is always nice, and can be a stally shit itself with leech seed. Just feels too low considering what it’s already shown, could like to see C+
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Dracozolt stronk
Duraludon draco is unresisted
Durant bug stab
Ferrothorn you can't touch ferro
Gengar poison stab
Celebi you can't touch this onion
Alcremie you can't encore it
Appleton mike wins something!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reuniclus magic guard is bad news
Toxtricity poison stab
Indeedee-Female this thing wins a mu?
Sirfetch'd brave bird
Charizard
Mudsdale
Orbeetle
Quagsire
Sudowoodo
Trevenant
Tsareena
Turtonator
Weavile
Wishiwashi
- Wins
Is this pokemon good overall? Na, it's pretty trash but it does certainly fill a niche as outlined above by 
