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The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
Thanks Osra, I was just really confused on what flexibility really meant and I get it better now. I think my umbreon point still stands. It needs to run ZCharm, toxic, and moonlight, far too few options for being 8.
Oh, forgot you mentioned Umbreon, too.
Umbreon has a variety of spreads you can use for it, as well as a decent variety of moves it can use, despite the fact that it was only popularized off of a single good set. Much like Cresselia, Umbreon has really good raw bulk that allows it to do essentially whatever it wants. What separates it from Cresselia, however, is the fact that the moves it gets are much better at taking on meta threats.

While Umbreon is only known for the original Lost heros set, it only really needs a recovery move (Moonlight/Wish/Rest?), and ends up having 3 slots to set up its win. Its possible moves for those 3 slots can be anything between Charm/Foul Play/Snarl/Taunt/Toxic/Baby-Doll Eyes/Curse/Payback/Growl/Spite/Bide. That said, this is pretty much all speculative based on sets that either don't exist or aren't overly used, so I suppose it would be fair to drop Umbreon's Flexibility from 8 to 7.5 or even 7 since these speculative sets are still better than Donphan's everything
 

Nalei

strong, wild garbage
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
I agree that flexibility is really iffy right now. The least flexible Pokemon in the meta should have a flexibility of 1 and the most flexible Pokemon in the meta should have a flexibility of 10. Do you mean to tell me that Victini is the most flexible Pokemon in the meta? It definitely isn't. Or that Umbreon has a much higher than average level of flexibility? It has 1 set with almost no moveslot or EV variation. While this issue is the worst with flexibility, I feel like you generally overscale a Pokemon's strengths with your ratings. Again, I still like the format, but it needs work.
edit: Osra posted about Umbreon's potential set variation but I don't really see this as anything for it. The standard Charm/Moonlight/Foul Play/Snarl covers just about everything you want to beat with Umbreon minus a Taunt and/or Spite set. You could make an argument for alternative Attack drop moves too, but if the variation beats the same things, it's really no variation at all.
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
There's a distinguishing difference between getting popular off of one set vs having general potential. Most people would look at a lot of unranked/low ranked Pokemon and see nothing in them, but I see potential in pretty much everything. Even things as one-dimensional as Aron and Vivillon have wiggle room, such as having Spd evs to make Vivillon beat Genesect or possibly different moves over Quiver Dance and/or Hurricane, while Aron has the choice between two different items, as well as Metal Burst as a possible move over Protect. Sure, they may be the least flexible mons in the meta, but they still have the potential to run alternative sets, which I would argue warrants them scores of 5 and 3, respectively. It would take something that can only be good at all with a single, highly specific setup of 1 particular item, 4 particular moves, 1 particular ability, and 1 particular spread to warrant a score of 1 on Flexibility, ie something like Unown, or Magnemite.

Having a score of 1 or 10 in a field doesn't mean that a Pokemon is the objective worst or best at performing in that field, just that they are very bad or good at it. If you wanted 10 to be limited to only the absolute best Pokemon at something and 1 to the absolute worst, not only would that take an insanely higher amount of work, in addition to requiring much more specific scorings than just using .5 increments, it would also require you/the vr team to establish individual rankings that show the overly detailed hierarchy of which Pokemon is the best/worst in that field, as well as all the rankings in between.

The ultimate point of the 40-point system is to estimate a Pokemon's overall value as a potential team member to consider when building for 1v1, as opposed to the current system we have, which is based off of gut feelings and usage stats, with a few calcs thrown in there every once in a while.
 

Tol

Retirement house
Osra i do feel like the scoring system is a tad generous to things that look like they would be good but in practice are just,well... bad.
The biggest example of this is blaziken. It’s horrible in practice, but in theory it looks good. Why?
Well, it gets a fair amount of coverage. It can certainly hit everything at least effectively, with thunder punch, brave bird, stone edge, and even the ability to go special. Also, of course, flareblitz/blastburn and hjk/focus Miss are solid STABs. Also, its main schtick in protect speed boost seems really good in 1v1. It is also one of the few things in 1v1 that isn’t married to/wants to stay as far as possible from its mega stone, so it’s got versatility in that as well. However, there is one key thing that keeps it from being a god mon like it was in gen6.
To put it simply, it doesn’t kill anything anymore. With z-moves around, blaziken’s feeble attacks don’t hit hard enough to OHKO anything that it should be to be good, and it can’t take a hit. If it did happen to oneshot lele, and gardevoir, and all the normal “zardx beater” things, it would most certainly be solid. But it can’t, and hence it sucks. Its seemingly perfect coverage doesn’t kill anything not at a 4x weakness, and sometimes not even that. Its stab is like that of beedrill, it doesn’t kill you unless it’s supereffective. While blaziken May look versatile, coverage only works if it wins.
 
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The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
Osra i do feel like the scoring system is a tad generous to things that look like they would be good but in practice are just,well... bad.
The biggest example of this is blaziken. It’s horrible in practice, but in theory it looks good. Why?
Well, it gets a fair amount of coverage. It can certainly hit everything at least effectively, with thunder punch, brave bird, stone edge, and even the ability to go special. Also, of course, flareblitz/blastburn and hjk/focus Miss are solid STABs. Also, its main schtick in protect speed boost seems really good in 1v1. It is also one of the few things in 1v1 that isn’t married to/wants to stay as far as possible from its mega stone, so it’s got versatility in that as well. However, there is one key thing that keeps it from being a god mon like it was in gen6.
To put it simply, it doesn’t kill anything anymore. With z-moves around, blaziken’s feeble attacks don’t hit hard enough to OHKO anything that it should be to be good, and it can’t take a hit. If it did happen to oneshot lele, and gardevoir, and all the normal “zardx beater” things, it would most certainly be solid. But it can’t, and hence it sucks. Its seemingly perfect coverage doesn’t kill anything not at a 4x weakness, and sometimes not even that. Its stab is like that of beedrill, it doesn’t kill you unless it’s supereffective. While blaziken May look versatile, coverage only works if it wins.
I mean sure, that said, it's still super versatile to the extent of having a set to beat nearly everything on the vr, at the expense of not being able to use all of those sets at once, which is why the score that pertains to Niche is particularly low, as it only ever has a small niche with any given set. You could make a case to drop Matchups from 7.5 to 7 or 6.5, but that still isn't really hurting the final score all that much, and the ability to run pretty much any set to cover almost any team's weakness is too good to drop the Team Synergy score, and the remaining score that has a case for being dropped is Niche, which I could see maybe dropping to 5 or 4.5 at worst. All in all, you still end with a final score of 28.5 at worst, which (imo) still defends its position at B rank, and ties it with Sawk.

This is why I like the system so much, because even with the subjective ways people can go about determining scores, the scores can still only vary by so much, whereas just going off of gut feelings, as we do now, mons are liable to make leaps and bounds across the vr at a moment's notice, either because people simply happen to not be using it at the moment or because people lost while using it or similar matters that pose little to no effect on how well a Pokemon can perform overall.

Is it really insane to have a highly-populated upper section of the VR? It's been said a thousand times over and over that 1v1 is fundamentally different from 6v6, yet our VR still reflects the same ideals as that of 6v6. We have a lot of Pokemon that beat a lot of Pokemon, yet are ranked low either because they aren't used much, they lose to X mon, or someone on the vr team has a gut feeling that a mon should be X rank just from glancing over the vr. My aim is to make the ranking system less about these things and more about the quality of each individual set that Pokemon may have, while not creating so much work that we'd be knee-deep in gen 8 by the time we were done properly ranking things.
 

Nalei

strong, wild garbage
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Sure, they may be the least flexible mons in the meta, but they still have the potential to run alternative sets, which I would argue warrants them scores of 5 and 3, respectively. It would take something that can only be good at all with a single, highly specific setup of 1 particular item, 4 particular moves, 1 particular ability, and 1 particular spread to warrant a score of 1 on Flexibility, ie something like Unown, or Magnemite.
This makes some level of sense, but the thing is that we're not interested in ranking Unown. Overgenerousity means that ultimately, we're reducing the amount of accuracy the system has by reducing the reasonable range of stats. So while technically, a mon like Throh could have some wiggle room, there's really nothing remotely viable that has less wiggle room than it, so it should be a 1.
Having a score of 1 or 10 in a field doesn't mean that a Pokemon is the objective worst or best at performing in that field, just that they are very bad or good at it. If you wanted 10 to be limited to only the absolute best Pokemon at something and 1 to the absolute worst, not only would that take an insanely higher amount of work, in addition to requiring much more specific scorings than just using .5 increments, it would also require you/the vr team to establish individual rankings that show the overly detailed hierarchy of which Pokemon is the best/worst in that field, as well as all the rankings in between.
Before I get started here, increasing the range of reasonable stats doesn't mean that .5 increments are less sufficient, it makes them more sufficient because the total range of reasonable stats increases. It would take more work, but this can be largely mitigated by setting up a policy on how each stat ought to be determined. Right off the top of my head, here's some probably horrible policy for how flexibility might be determined. Take this as a proof of concept, not as an actual policy.
A Pokemon's flexibility is determined by the following factors:
1) The number of mainstream sets it has
2) How customizable its EVs are on each set as an average
3) The number of viable moves on each set as an average
Additionally, any points added for sets or moves that do essentially the same thing are null. The minimum value, 1, notes the least flexible Pokemon that is remotely viable, [least flexible mon in the meta, probably Throh/Toxicroak/Beheeyem] while the maximum value, 10, notes the most flexible Pokemon in the meta, [most flexible mon in the meta, probably Charizard]. Thus, the intermediate values should work on a bell curve with the majority of Pokemon being placed within the 2.5-7.5 range (numbers subject to dispute, equal distribution may work in place of bell curve too).
 

Morgan

Morgius Sweep
is a Pre-Contributor
Something like Kyurem, having only 3 mainstream sets, Normalium, Icium, Groundium, no wiggle room for EVs and one set of interchangable moves (Ice Beam for Blizzard), would have a flexibility rating of 4 maximum for example.
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
This makes some level of sense, but the thing is that we're not interested in ranking Unown. Overgenerousity means that ultimately, we're reducing the amount of accuracy the system has by reducing the reasonable range of stats. So while technically, a mon like Throh could have some wiggle room, there's really nothing remotely viable that has less wiggle room than it, so it should be a 1.
The point of the system is to provide a fair assessment to all Pokemon, not just those that we're interested in entering into the VR/are already on it. Just looking at Throh's moveset, I'd wager it would be something closer to a 6, maybe 7 if you got really creative with it. For the sake of clarity here's what I'd propose as a score breakdown for the Flexibility category:
10 = Almost completely unable to be predicted at team preview
9 = You have a general idea of what it's gonna do, but not how it will do it
8 = You know what it's gonna do, but one small detail could completely change the battle
7 = It's mostly limited to one set, but has coverage moves that can mess things up
6 = Pretty one-dimensional, for the most part
5 = One-dimensional, relies more on a select few aspects than the entire sum of elements that it has to choose from
4 = Very one-dimensional, coverage moves (if any) have little to no effect on the outcome of most battles
3 = Has effectively no coverage options
2 = Alternative items, spreads, or abilities from the "main set" have little impact on the Pokemon, or outright hinder it
1 = Has no redeeming qualities besides the fact that it can do one thing

Before I get started here, increasing the range of reasonable stats doesn't mean that .5 increments are less sufficient, it makes them more sufficient because the total range of reasonable stats increases.
What-
I was just saying that you'd have to go to stuff like 6.1, or 7.25 if you wanna Mace it up. I'd rather not have it be that detailed, as we have 120+ mons on the vr that we would have to go to this much trouble for, for each of them. Just something simple like making a guesstimation for each of the four values and then averaging out each of the vr team member's scores to get the final, final score.
It would take more work, but this can be largely mitigated by setting up a policy on how each stat ought to be determined. Right off the top of my head, here's some probably horrible policy for how flexibility might be determined. Take this as a proof of concept, not as an actual policy.
A Pokemon's flexibility is determined by the following factors:
1) The number of mainstream sets it has
2) How customizable its EVs are on each set as an average
3) The number of viable moves on each set as an average
Additionally, any points added for sets or moves that do essentially the same thing are null. The minimum value, 1, notes the least flexible Pokemon that is remotely viable, [least flexible mon in the meta, probably Throh/Toxicroak/Beheeyem] while the maximum value, 10, notes the most flexible Pokemon in the meta, [most flexible mon in the meta, probably Charizard]. Thus, the intermediate values should work on a bell curve with the majority of Pokemon being placed within the 2.5-7.5 range (numbers subject to dispute, equal distribution may work in place of bell curve too).
"This'll make less work by doing even more work!" I love the enthusiasm for how you approach things, but only you would be willing to take things on like that. I mean if you get control over the VR and actually do it all on your own then bravo, but yeesh that's a lot. The problem I have with this method is that you're effectively creating 5 VRs to determine the rankings of mons in each individual category, and then the last VR being the overall VR based off of each mon's final scores. I've no doubt it would be more effective than what I had in mind, but again, that would take literal years to do, of which new games would have come out by the time you'd have finished.

Something like Kyurem, having only 3 mainstream sets, Normalium, Icium, Groundium, no wiggle room for EVs and one set of interchangable moves (Ice Beam for Blizzard), would have a flexibility rating of 4 maximum for example.
Kyurem has Icium and Normalium ignoring Groundium as the nonset lure that it was designed to be. It has plenty of wiggle room in the form of opting to outspeed Dragonite and other things vs opting to be better bulked for other things, both physically and/or specially. Moveset isn't exactly flexible, seeing as it really wants to keep Noble Roar and Roost, as well as probably Ice Beam. Alternatively, can also opt to run a Specs set or even PP stall with Pressure. My ultimate grade for Kyurem's Flexibility would be about 7 or 7.5, maybe 6.5 if you wanted to be really anal.
 

Morgan

Morgius Sweep
is a Pre-Contributor
ignoring Groundium as the nonset lure that it was designed to be
Groundium isn't a non-set, to be honest, Normalium is closer to a non set than Groundium is, Groundium is a better set than Normalium, it beats most of Normalium's matchups better than Normalium (Mawile, Excadrill)
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
Alright, I think it's been a notable point of contention that having almost every mon get "good" scores is a bad thing, so how about a more scholarly approach? By applying a grading system similar to how student assignments get graded:
S = 97.5% - 100%
A+ = 95% - 97.5%
A = 92.5% - 95%
A- = 90% - 92.5%
B+ = 86.6% - 89.9%
B = 83.3% - 86.6%
B- = 80% - 83.3%
C+ = 76.6% - 79.9%
C = 73.3% - 76.6%
C- = 70% - 73.3%
D = 60% - 69.9%
F = 59.9% or lower
And to see what that means for scores:
S = 39 - 40
A+ = 38 - 39
A = 37 - 38
A- = 36 - 37
B+ = 35 - 36
B = 33 - 35
B- = 32 - 33
C+ = 30 - 32
C = 29 - 30
C- = 28 - 29
D = 24 - 28
F = 24 or lower
This would create a very large upwards rise in population, starting from the barely-populated S rank to the increasingly populated lower ranks, with the center of the bell curve being somewhere in the C ranks, where most/all new submissions to the VR typically end up until someone makes some kind of gamebreaking set that warrants a higher placement.

This would also make it much more difficult for new mons to get higher spots on the VR, as well as new mons to get into the VR at all. This would also hopefully filter out a lot of the less-than-useful mons that we have cluttering up the VR, since apparently, we legitimately have more mons on our VR than PU has on theirs (119 vs 116) which is mostly to say that we have too many mons on the VR. Having this large filter would hopefully make it easier to distinguish between mons that have legitimate purpose and viability in 1v1, such as Manaphy, Quagsire, Pyukumuku, etc, from mons that are mostly niche and were built moreso for the sake of amusement, rather than attempting to act as a considerable addition to 1v1, such as Stunfisk, Meowstic, Krookodile, Marowak-A, etc.

To see how this would play out, let's look at my noms from earlier: scores edited using the grading rubrics
Heatran: 8.5 - 8 - 9 - 8.5 - 34 B
Garchomp: 7.5 - 9 - 7.5 - 8 - 32 B-/C+
Kommo-o: 7 - 8.5 - 8 - 7 - 30.5 C+
Mawile: 8.5 - 8.5 - 8.5 - 8 - 33.5 B
Sawk: 6.5 - 7.5 - 7.5 - 7 - 28.5 C-
Tyranitar: 8 - 9.5 - 8.5 - 7.5 - 33.5 B
Sableye: 9 - 8.5 - 9 - 9 - 35.5 B+
Victini: 7.5 - 10 - 7.5 - 8.5 - 33.5 B
Incineroar: 7 - 8 - 9 - 7 - 31 C+
Scizor: 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 32 B-/C+
Deoxys: 9 - 7 - 9 - 8.5 - 33.5 B
Haxorus: 7 - 8.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 28 C-/D
Manaphy: 8 - 9 - 8 - 8 - 33 B/B-
Quagsire: 7.5 - 6 - 8.5 - 8 - 30 C+/C
Pyukumuku: 7 - 9 - 8 - 7.5 - 31.5 C+
Golem: apparently nobody caught that I legitimately had nothing entered for Golem lol oops 6 - 6.5 - 7 - 6.5 - 26 D
Donphan: 5.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 6 - 24 D/Unranked
Blaziken: 7.5 - 9.5 - 6 - 8 - 31 C+
Latios: 6.5 - 8 - 7 - 6.5 - 28 C-/D
Gengar: 7.5 - 6 - 8 - 7.5 - 29 C/C-
Umbreon: 7.5 - 8 - 8 - 7.5 - 31 C+
Thundurus-Therian: 7 - 7.5 - 7 - 7 - 28.5 C-
 

dom

Banned deucer.
Alright, I think it's been a notable point of contention that having almost every mon get "good" scores is a bad thing, so how about a more scholarly approach? By applying a grading system similar to how student assignments get graded:
S = 97.5% - 100%
A+ = 95% - 97.5%
A = 92.5% - 95%
A- = 90% - 92.5%
B+ = 86.6% - 89.9%
B = 83.3% - 86.6%
B- = 80% - 83.3%
C+ = 76.6% - 79.9%
C = 73.3% - 76.6%
C- = 70% - 73.3%
D = 60% - 69.9%
F = 59.9% or lower
And to see what that means for scores:
S = 39 - 40
A+ = 38 - 39
A = 37 - 38
A- = 36 - 37
B+ = 35 - 36
B = 33 - 35
B- = 32 - 33
C+ = 30 - 32
C = 29 - 30
C- = 28 - 29
D = 24 - 28
F = 24 or lower
This would create a very large upwards rise in population, starting from the barely-populated S rank to the increasingly populated lower ranks, with the center of the bell curve being somewhere in the C ranks, where most/all new submissions to the VR typically end up until someone makes some kind of gamebreaking set that warrants a higher placement.

This would also make it much more difficult for new mons to get higher spots on the VR, as well as new mons to get into the VR at all. This would also hopefully filter out a lot of the less-than-useful mons that we have cluttering up the VR, since apparently, we legitimately have more mons on our VR than PU has on theirs (119 vs 116) which is mostly to say that we have too many mons on the VR. Having this large filter would hopefully make it easier to distinguish between mons that have legitimate purpose and viability in 1v1, such as Manaphy, Quagsire, Pyukumuku, etc, from mons that are mostly niche and were built moreso for the sake of amusement, rather than attempting to act as a considerable addition to 1v1, such as Stunfisk, Meowstic, Krookodile, Marowak-A, etc.

To see how this would play out, let's look at my noms from earlier: scores edited using the grading rubrics
Heatran: 8.5 - 8 - 9 - 8.5 - 34 B
Garchomp: 7.5 - 9 - 7.5 - 8 - 32 B-/C+
Kommo-o: 7 - 8.5 - 8 - 7 - 30.5 C+
Mawile: 8.5 - 8.5 - 8.5 - 8 - 33.5 B
Sawk: 6.5 - 7.5 - 7.5 - 7 - 28.5 C-
Tyranitar: 8 - 9.5 - 8.5 - 7.5 - 33.5 B
Sableye: 9 - 8.5 - 9 - 9 - 35.5 B+
Victini: 7.5 - 10 - 7.5 - 8.5 - 33.5 B
Incineroar: 7 - 8 - 9 - 7 - 31 C+
Scizor: 8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - 32 B-/C+
Deoxys: 9 - 7 - 9 - 8.5 - 33.5 B
Haxorus: 7 - 8.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 28 C-/D
Manaphy: 8 - 9 - 8 - 8 - 33 B/B-
Quagsire: 7.5 - 6 - 8.5 - 8 - 30 C+/C
Pyukumuku: 7 - 9 - 8 - 7.5 - 31.5 C+
Golem: apparently nobody caught that I legitimately had nothing entered for Golem lol oops 6 - 6.5 - 7 - 6.5 - 26 D
Donphan: 5.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 6 - 24 D/Unranked
Blaziken: 7.5 - 9.5 - 6 - 8 - 31 C+
Latios: 6.5 - 8 - 7 - 6.5 - 28 C-/D
Gengar: 7.5 - 6 - 8 - 7.5 - 29 C/C-
Umbreon: 7.5 - 8 - 8 - 7.5 - 31 C+
Thundurus-Therian: 7 - 7.5 - 7 - 7 - 28.5 C-
you're overcomplicating things - there is a reason literally 0 tiers do anything like this. the vr isn't supposed to be extremely objective. it's about new sets, meta trends, etc. a letter grade is enough and more numbers or whatever are unneeded. not to mention your process is pretty time consuming when people in the vr council clearly aren't too dedicated. yes, i do know not every other tier is as single mon based as 1v1 is.
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
you're overcomplicating things - there is a reason literally 0 tiers do anything like this. the vr isn't supposed to be extremely objective. it's about new sets, meta trends, etc. a letter grade is enough and more numbers or whatever are unneeded. not to mention your process is pretty time consuming when people in the vr council clearly aren't too dedicated. yes, i do know not every other tier is as single mon based as 1v1 is.
I'm at least trying something. Any kind of change or development would help keep the meta healthy and growing, as people are evidently unhappy with it in its current state.

Not to mention, not having to worry about switchins or momentum or w/e makes it entirely possible to objectively calculate a mon's value in 1v1, so why shouldn't we? The tiers (besides PU) and many OMs also don't have a D rank, while we do, which is evidence enough that we don't really follow the traditional "way" things are done, so why should we kinda follow the tiers if we aren't gonna commit to it (If we even can)?

The system I suggested even factors in what you said above, with "new sets" pertaining to Flexibility and "meta trends" pertaining to Niche. But hey, maybe I'm the crazy one who only wants to write a single line of scores rather than having to painstakingly write paragraphs of explanations, calcs, and matchups for each and every individual Pokemon.
 
im too lazy to quote bc i have way too much hw to do, but dom asked for responses anw

heatran b -> b+
for sure, does beat a lot of the meta (except porygon)
chomper b -> b+

i don't like chomp, haxorus kinda does its job better in my opinion with a better ability and coverage, b is ok for it
kommoo b -> b+

i think that we should just keep this one where it is, taunt and other coverage is v good on it, speedy can beat some porygons, but no lax = not as good
mega mawile b -> b+

this mon is definitely getting better after losing two mons it counter (jirachi / kyub). spdef is whack
sawk b -> b+

hard disagree. not used very often and probably for a good reason. it was ok back when it beat all the tapus including koko, but its just not as good anymore. jsut not b+ worthy.
mega ttar b -> b+.

neutral about this one. pretty strong, but i dont have a good opinion about it
msab b -> b+.

keep, but its pretty anti meta, can carry snarl n stuff to beat like porygon, but a lot carry nasty plot. if mimikyu goes, this would probably raise a few ranks.
victini b- -> b.

agree, flame charge is underutilized, can hit hard
incin c+ (what the fuck lol) -> b/b-
ok this is what we need people can be made to beat so much like ZYGARDE and donphan and stuff
mega sciz c+ -> b-

i have not seen laserfocus rofl but im sure its ok. needs more results before raised
deos c+ -> b-/b

i dont want this used anymore than it is. raising it would definitely not acomplish that lol, even if it does deserve it (which it does)
hax c -> b- / c+ I GUESS

hax is way scarier than chomper in my opinion. B rank mon. can run so much (scarf, band, groundium, dragonium, you name it). very good coverage moves (banded superpower and eq is very scary) with an AMAZING ABILITY
mega latias c -> c+

yeah, people jus tneed to use it more
manaphy c- -> c

probably not c- worthy, but still needs to be used more
quagpyuku c- -> c/c+

c+ imo, still need to be used more
zapdos unranked -> c

when dom said "its like a better magnezone" it had me thinking, and i realized that it almost kinda is. loses to things like lele and char y, but can beat gyara better and dnite. c+
cobalion ur -> d/c-

uh sure d why not, too reliant on zmoves and being very specific to do anything
golphan b+ -> b/b-

golem should be demoted to b-, donphan should be b. donphan is kinda jsut much better in a lot of ways (typing and stuff), plus the sub endeavor set should come back
blaziken b -> b-/c+

neutral blaziken is almost never used, c+
latios c+ -> c/c-

just use mega or naga, c ranked mon
mega gengar b- -> c (c+ if c is too far, i guess....)

i hate this thing and want to rank it very low, but no matter what rank it is new players will still pick it up and use hypnosis. c
umbreon c+ -> c/c-

only good set is zcharm, which many other mons do better
thundt c -> c-/d

definitely needs to be used wayyyy more. very very very very anti meta, i love this mon. (beats many of xscs teams btw). can beat mimi, metagross, landot, primarina, fini, lele, porygon, zard y, zygarde. very very good mon, just needs to be used more. c+ imo, but should stay c without results
 

Ginger Princess

Girl moding so hard rn
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
1v1 Speed Tiers
(Update of lost heros original Speed Tier list)
One of the most important parts of the 1v1 Metagame is being able to outspeed threats to your team. By knowing exactly how fast a Pokemon can be, you can optimize the EVs on your Pokemon so you only have as much Speed as you have to, allowing resources to be put into Attack or Defense.

How this list is sorted:
-If a Pokemon normally runs speed, then they will have the highest Speed they can run listed. Also included will be notable variants that don't run Speed boosting natures, but have 252 Speed EVs (An example would be Gyarados-Mega; the highest Speed it can have is 287, but max Speed Adamant (261) is much more common).
-If a Pokemon doesn't run Speed, or purposefully lowers Speed in order to gain an advantage, then their Speed stats will be listed under "bulky" or "min speed" respectfully. "Bulky" is their Speed stat at 0 EVs and 31 IVs, "min speed" is their Speed at 0 EVs, 0 IVs, and a Speed hindering nature. The reason for why Pokemon run minimum speed will be listed as well, for clarification.
- Boosting sets and Choice Scarves are both included, if they had 6% usage or above
- Order was based on Speed Stat, lowest to highest, and then Viability Ranking for Pokemon of equal speed. Only Pokemon in the Viability Rankings will be included.

Especially important Speed Tiers are noted with *, specifically extremely common Pokemon and/or notable Speed Traps.

4: Min Speed Level One FEAR Aron (Wins against Faster Arons with Struggle Recoil)
40: Gyro Ball/Min Speed Ferrothorn (Gyro Ball does more damage with smaller Speed)
40: Metal Burst/Min Speed Sableye-Mega (Metal Burst does not negative priority; therefore, no Speed is essential)
46: Bulky Pyukumuku
58: Min Speed Slowbro-Mega (Avoids Metal Burst Damage on Aggron and Mawile, helps against Slowbro-Mega dittos)
76: Bulky Sableye-Mega
76: Bulky Camerupt-Mega
76: Metal Burst/Min Speed Rhyperior (See Sableye-Mega)
86: Bulky Dusclops
92: Bulky Avalugg
94: Metal Burst/Min Speed Aggron-Mega (See Sableye-Mega)
94: Metal Burst/Min Speed Mawile-Mega (See Sableye-Mega)
96: Bulky Abomasnow-Mega
100: Bulky Stunfisk
106: Bulky Quagsire
112: Min Speed Aegislash (Avoid taking damage in Blade Form)
112: Analytic/Min Speed Porygon2 (Analytic boost)
116: Bulky Rhyperior
126: Bulky Marowak-Alola
136: Bulky Chansey
136: Bulky Azumarill
146: Bulky Blissey
146: Bulky Relicanth
154: Bulky Type Null
156: Bulky Incineroar
156: Bulky Porygon2
156: Bulky Clefable
158: Bulky Celesteela
163: Adamant Carracosta
166: Bulky Umbreon
176: Bulky Swampert-Mega
178: Bulky Tyranitar-Mega
179: Fast Carracosta
186: Bulky Scizor-Mega
189: Adamant Golem
189: Adamant Crustle
192: Bulky Blastoise-Mega
194: Bulky Necrozma
194: Bulky Buzzwole
206: Bulky Zygarde-Complete
206: Bulky Suicune
207: Fast Golem
207: Fast Crustle
218: Fast Donphan
218: Fast Mawile-Mega
219: Modest Magnezone
220: Bulky Garchomp-Mega
220: Bulky Krookodile
226: Bulky Zygarde 50%
226: Bulky Kyurem
235: Adamant Barbaracle
236: Bulky Entei
236: Bulky Manaphy
239: Adamant Skarmory
239: Adamant Cloyster
239: Modest Volcanion
240: Fast Magnezone
240: Fast Aegislash
240: Fast Primarina
243: Fast Celesteela
244: Bulky Meowstic-M
249: Adamant Heracross-Mega
251: Fast Magearna
253: Modest Heatran
258: Fast Barbaracle
259: Adamant/Modest Dragonite
*
259: Adamant/Modest Hoopa-Unbound
261: Adamant Gyarados-Mega
*
262: Fast Skarmory
262: Fast Cloyster
262: Fast Breloom
262: Fast Volcanion
265: Fast Tyranitar-Mega
268: Bulky Whimsicott
269: Lonely Sawk
273: Fast Heracross-Mega
273: Fast Smeargle
*
273: Fast Tapu Bulu
275: Adamant Excadrill
278: Fast Heatran
279: Modest Porygon-Z
*
279: Modest Meloetta
280: Fast Blastoise-Mega
281: Adamant Landorus-Therian
282: Fast Necrozma
283: Adamant Garchomp-Mega
284: Fast Dragonite
*
284: Fast Venusaur-Mega
284: Fast Altaria-Mega
284: Fast Hoopa-Unbound
284: Fast Togekiss
287: Fast Gyarados-Mega
*
293: Adamant Haxorus
295: Fast Tapu Fini
295: Fast Kommo-O
295: Fast Sawk
295: Modest Hydreigon
297: Modest Genesect
299: Adamant Blaziken-Mega
299: Adamant Victini
299: Adamant Slaking
302: Fast Excadrill
304: Fast Vivillon
*
306: Fast Meloetta
306: Fast Porygon-Z
*
309: Fast Landorus-Therian
311: Fast Garchomp-Mega
317: Fast Tapu Lele
320: Fast Mimikyu
*
322: Fast Haxorus
324: Fast Hydreigon
326: Fast Genesect
326: +2 Adamant Carracosta
328: Fast Charizard-Mega-X
*
328: Fast Charizard-Mega-Y*
328: Fast Gardevoir-Mega
328: Fast Mew
328: Fast Blaziken-Mega
328: Fast Victini
328: Fast Volcarona
328: Fast Medicham-Mega
328: Fast Manaphy
328: Fast Slaking
331: Fast Landorus
331: Fast Thundurus-Therian
333: Fast Garchomp
333: Mild Salazzle
335: Fast Nihilego
339: Fast Pinsir-Mega
341: Modest Naganadel
344: Fast Blacephalon
346: Fast Terrakion
346: Fast Infernape
346: Fast Keldeo
348: Fast Alolan-Ninetales
348: Fast Kartana
348: Fast Durant
348: Fast Ninetales-Alola
350: Fast Gallade-Mega
350: Fast Metagross-Mega
*
350: Fast Jumpluff*
350: Fast Diancie-Mega
350: Fast Archeops
350: Fast Gallade-Mega
350: Fast Latios
350: Fast Latias-Mega
351: Adamant Talonflame
355: Fast Lucario-Mega
357: Fast Serperior
358: +2 Fast Carracosta
358: Scarf Modest Volcanion
364: Fast Salazzle
369: Adamant Lopunny-Mega
*
369: Modest Manectric-Mega
375: Fast Naganadel
375: Fast Pidgeot
377: Fast Greninja
*
378: +2 Adamant Crustle
386: Fast Talonflame
388: +1 Adamant/Modest Dragonite
*
389: Modest Sceptile-Mega
391: +1 Adamant Gyarados-Mega
*
394: Fast Gengar-Mega
396: Bulky Deoxys-Speed
397: +1 Fast Tyranitar-Mega
401: Modest Pheromosa
403: Adamant Scarf Sawk
405: Fast Lopunny Mega
*
405: Fast Manectric-Mega
409: Scarf Fast Tapu Bulu
412: Scarf Adamant Excadrill
414: +2 Fast Crustle
418: Scarf/+1 Modest Porygon Z
*
418: +1 Modest Meloetta
423: Fast Zeraora
426: +1 Fast Dragonite
*
426: +1 Fast Altaria-Mega
426: Scarf Fast Hoopa-Unbound
426: Scarf Fast Togekiss
*
427: Fast Sceptile-Mega
430: +1 Fast Gyarados-Mega
*
438: Fast Alakazam-Mega
439: Scarf Adamant Haxorus
441: Fast Pheromosa
442: +1 Fast Tapu Fini
442: +1 Fast Kommo-O
442: Scarf Fast Sawk
442: Scarf Modest Hydreigon
445: Scarf Modest Genesect
448: +1 Adamant Blaziken-Mega
448: Scarf Adamant Victini
453: Scarf Fast Excadrill
459: Scarf/+1 Fast Porygon Z
*
459: +1 Fast Meloetta
459: Modest Deoxys-Speed
463: Scarf Fast Landorus-Therian
469: Scarf Modest Blacephalon
470: +2 Adamant Barbaracle
475: Scarf Fast Tapu Lele
478: Scarf Adamant Archeops
478: +2 Adamant Cloyster
483: Scarf Fast Haxorus
486: Scarf Fast Hydreigon
489: Scarf Fast Genesect
492: +1 Fast Charizard-Mega-X
*
492: +1 Fast Charizard-Mega-Y*
492: +1 Fast Blaziken-Mega
492: Scarf Fast Victini
492: +1 Fast Volcarona
496: Scarf Fast Landorus
499: Scarf Fast Garchomp
504: Fast Deoxys Speed
*
514: Scarf Modest Greninja
516: Scarf Fast Blacephalon
516: +2 Fast Barbaracle
519: Scarf Fast Terrakion
519: Scarf Fast Infernape
522: Scarf Fast Kartana
522: Scarf Fast Durant
524: +2 Fast Cloyster
525: Scarf Fast Archeops
525: Scarf Fast Latios
565: Scarf Fast Greninja


214: Speed to Outspeed Mimikyu at +1 (321)

*220: Speed to Outspeed Base 100s at +1 (330)
234: Speed to Outspeed Base 110s at +1 (351)

*252: Speed to Outspeed Greninja at +1 (378)
264: Speed to Outspeed Base 130s at +1 (396)

*271: Speed to Outspeed Lopunny-Mega at +1 (406)
283: Speed to Outspeed Zeraora at +1 (424)

*307: Speed to Outspeed Scarf Porygon Z at +1 (460)
337: Speed to Outspeed Deoxys-Speed at +1 (505)
 
Looks like its my first time nomming for the 1v1 VR, most likely going to fail horribly but eh
Rises:


Whimsicott B- ------> B

This thing is severly underated on the vr, B- really does not really do it justice. With the ability to beat all who dont ohko it (excluding darks, but that can be partially sloved via moonblast), and the ability to pick and choose its counters with its berrys, this thing is very splashable and very deadly. it also appreciates the hit steel types took and the boost dragons got via the mimi suspect. It deserves B. its better than blazikan at least





Thundurus-Therian C -------> C+

Thundry T is quite slept on rn. Charge+gigavolt is beast, But you can run nasty plot+ hp ice to body threats like lando and zygod. This thing is a great antimeta mon, and appreciates the boost dragonite got via the mimi ban. C+ should be good imo.


Rhyperior C- ---------> C/C+

What is this thing doing in c-? With the ability to demolish a ton of threats with z/choice band, and also be very tanky with assault vest while still preserving a good amount of power? Rhyperior is a hell of a lot better than C-. It also appreciates the boost dragonite got from the loss of mimi, as it body's it quite easily. I'd say its C+, but C is a good start

Dragonite A+ -------> S
I'm never going live this down am I

After the loss of it's premier counters, I honestly believe that this thing deserves S. With the ability to pick and choose its counters with a near endless amount of sets, while bodying most of the meta by itself, this thing is very unpredictable and incredibly splashable. Hell, it can even beat some mold breaker's with haban/gigavolt. For it's sheer splashability and the ability to run a massive amount of sets, I believe it deserves S rank.



DROPS:


Excadrill C+---->C

This thing took a big hit in viability after the mimi suspect, as it lost one of the main threats it counters. It's still decent, but it's one of the biggest losers of this suspect.


Mimikyu S-----> Unranked

Did it get banned? Yes. Was this uneccesary? Yes.

Blaziken B ------> B-

Blazikan just isnt very good. It's coverage is about as mediocre as bulk and matchups. it should be B-
 

ayedan

5 am in Toronto
Blaziken B ------> B-

Blazikan just isnt very good. It's coverage is about as mediocre as bulk and matchups. it should be B-
I think Blaziken should stay where it is or even rise due to the Mimikyu ban. It just loss its biggest check with this ban and can be used much more than it previously was. With the combination of its typing, Fire/Fighting + coverage, Mega Blaziken beats many top threats and trends like Magearna (Flare Blitz), Mega Metagross (Flare Blitz), Porygon Z (HJK), Jumpluff (Speed Boost + Flare Blitz), Mega Charizard X (Sub + Reversal), Greninja (Speed Boost + High Jump Kick), Mega Charizard Y (Stone Edge), and many more. Also, with the soon to be downfall in usage for Landorus-Therian due to Mimikyu ban, Blaziken will shine even more. I hope this explains well why Blaziken actually benefits from this Ban and deserves to stay where its currently at on the Viability Rankings or rise.
 

Whimsicott B- ------> B
I like Whimsicott more than I like Ferrothorn, but still Ferrothorn is B. Whimsicott gets outclassed by Jumpluff but has a niche of prankster+weakness berry. Either a drop of Ferrothorn or a rise in Whimsicott I'd say.

Thundurus-Therian C -------> C+
I agree with this. I've used Thundurus-t quite a bit and it really beats a lot and has a variety of sets. Bulky Electroweb + charge with Electrium Z or Scarf. Might be outclassed by Zeraora in some cases but that shouldn't stop this from rising.

Rhyperior C- ---------> C/C+
Rhyperior was good with Custap Berry in Gen 5/6. I don't see it shine as much as it did back then. Sure it has a niche, but still gets outclassed by Crustle which has Sturdy and it needs AV to actually tank a hit.

Dragonite A+ -------> S
I think it's too early to rank this. We know what Dragonite can, but we gotta see first what effects it after the Mimikyu ban.


Excadrill C+---->C
I've noticed this as well. Scarfed Excadrill just doesn't OHKO what you want it to. And groundium gets outsped by a lot more.

Blaziken B ------> B-
Mega Blaziken is there to beat specific Pokemon and can be used to beat teams with Fire and Fighting weaknesses. I think it's still a decent mon and needs to be in the B rank, either B- or not.

discoplaygames good effort for a new player. :)

I'd like to add some more stuff:

Relicanth---->D
Relicanth Reli can't hit what it wants to. It's Sturdy gets broken by Zmoves and stuff like Fake Out which makes it very vulnerable. Any Substitude will beat this thing on first sight because Head Smash gives recoil and it blocks Yawn.

Nihilego----> B-
Man this thing is one of the best stall breakers out there. Being able to use both acid spray and rock tomb makes this mon very dangerous, in addition to that, it outspeeds base 100s and tanks special attacks very well and works great as well with Choice Specs which beats the tapu's and the Zards.

Mew----> A-
This mon has proven us to be very diverse in sets. Being able to be a special Nuke, as well as one of the best Walls in the current metagame. It is hard to predict mews sets on first sight and therefore deserves a spot in the A ranks.
 

Chickenpie2

red:active
is a Contributor Alumnus
Nomming Empoleon for B-:
Empoleon is an extraordinarily potent wallbreaker. It has a unique type combination that resists many common types in the meta, such as Fairy, Steel, Dragon, Water, and Psychic.

Set I use:
Empoleon @ Waterium Z
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 232 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Icy Wind
- Hydro Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Laser Focus

Osra had another set that probably optimised EVs better, or at least it was a little more bulky, but I ran this for Max SpA.

Reason why i love this penguino:
Z Hydro Cannon with Torrent is amazing. Laser Focus ignores stat boosts. Typing is super solid defensively. Also I just realised that Icy Wind and Laser Focus kills Deoxys. Wow. Amazing.

Things this beats on the VR reliably:
Heatran, Magearna, Porygon Z, Tapu Lele, Gardevoir, Primarina, Genesect, Mawile, Aggron, Sableye, Diancie, Volcarona, Incineroar, Altaria, Meloetta (specs fblast is not a valid set)

Semi-reliably (with other sets possibly):
Charizard X, Dragonite, Greninja, Tapu Fini, Slowbro, Kartana, Ferrothorn, Victini, Naga, Mew, Deoxys (pls no focus miss)

Other viable sets:
Endure Yawn with Salac/Petaya berry that Attidude used I think.
Choice Specs with decent coverage moves in Grass Knot and HP Fire.
I feel like someone could make a viable Shuca/Balloon set but that's irrelevant.

It's basically like Prim/Fini but beats Fairies and phat setup (at the cost of stuff like Zard Y and Gyara and Fighting and Ground mons), which I believe is a sizeable niche that no other pokemon does.

(this probably wasn't the best time to post this cos i made this to beat mimi but hey it's still a good mon.. )
 
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ayedan

5 am in Toronto
Haxorus: C Rank ----> B/B- Rank

With the gradual rise in usage and popularity in Dragonite, the soon to be fall in usage from Pokemon like Landorus-Therian and Metagross. I feel like Haxorus is in a great spot in the current meta. You can run a few different sets like Choice Scarf, which lets you beat faster Pokemon that threaten you like Greninja, Pheromosa, Mega Lopunny, and Zeraora. You can afford to run Adamant Nature as well because the boosted 483 Jolly Nature speed isn't letting you beat anything Scarf Adamant Nature is not. Choice Band sets are better as of late because the meta is shifting to be more bulky after the most recent Mimikyu ban. Choice Band sets beat the ever-so-prevalent Zygarde. Even though, its speed stat is 97, Mega Charizard X and Y can afford to run bulkier sets w/o Flame Charge to beat pokemon like Donphan, Mega Lopunny, and Greninja. As of right now, I think Haxorus should rise to B rank as it counters one of the most threatening Pokemon in the current metagame, Dragonite, and can beat many other top threats like Mega Lopunny, Porygon-Z, Greninja, Zygarde, Tapu Lele, and Magnezone. Thank you for reading.
 
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Dragonite A+ -------> S
I'm never going live this down am I

After the loss of it's premier counters, I honestly believe that this thing deserves S. With the ability to pick and choose its counters with a near endless amount of sets, while bodying most of the meta by itself, this thing is very unpredictable and incredibly splashable. Hell, it can even beat some mold breaker's with haban/gigavolt. For it's sheer splashability and the ability to run a massive amount of sets, I believe it deserves S rank.
Dragonite A+ => S
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree here. While yes, mimi is now in the shadow realm, D-nite still looses to some of the best mons in mega gyra, WoW 'Zard x (Imo, its best set), Magerna, Zygarde, and Mega-Meta. To make matters worse, at least one of these 'mons is on most teams. Also, a weakness to the rising Haxourus doesn't help it ether. D-nite is by no means bad, it's just not on the level of the S rank 'mons.

Also, I still support a rise for my favorite axe-faced dragon. Not much needs to be said about this, as I've said a bunch about this guy in my last few posts, and ayedan also does a good job explaining what this guy does. Haxorus => B- (atleast).
 
You can afford to run Adamant Nature as well because the boosted 483 Jolly Nature speed isn't letting you beat anything Scarf Adamant Nature is not.
Not trying to be petty or anything but one little fact check, jolly allows you to beat scarf porygon-z with superpower, this change doesn’t make you lose much power and also allows you to OHKO non mega aggron with superpower which otherwise it would have no reason to run. I’m sure there are a few things that this makes it lose to but I figured it’s worth mentioning since Porygon-Z is one of the best mons in the meta.
I totally agree with this nom though
 

Morgan

Morgius Sweep
is a Pre-Contributor
BSU, most Scarf PZ's run Mmodest, which Haxorus automatically outspeeds, so your argument against AdaScarf is weird. Also, who's talking smack about Super Power Hax? There is no reason to run EQ on Scarf haxorus over Superpower. It has a 93.8% Chance to OHKO 4 HP Zone, and Beats Balloon Tran. It also keeps most of the steel matchups that EQ has, and lets you beat Lopunny, and the rare dark type that Isn't Gyarados
 
I have to agree with BSU's claim on jolly nature. There's really no reason to sacrifice speed which is a critical factor, and gamble with the chance of porygon-z possibly running a modest nature. With jolly nature, its a guaranteed win against a scarfed porygon-z. All other matchups still hold true to what both AFO and BSU stated. With this, you also have to consider possible mons that can counter if you weren't running jolly such as scarfed lele or modest zard X.
 

The Official Glyx

Banned deucer.
S=Same
+=Increase (ex +1)
-=Decrease (ex -1)

Please keep in mind that I aim to remove D rank when it comes to these suggestions.
S Rank
Charizard-Mega:S
Gyarados-Mega:S


A+ Rank
Dragonite:+1 Dragonite keeps losing threat after threat. Flyinium was mostly ran alongside Bulldoze or Rock Tomb as a countermeasure to Mimikyu, and now Dragonite is no longer limited to just that, making it free to run rampant with pretty much any move/item combination it wants.

Magearna:S

Metagross-Mega:-1 Metagross suffers strongly from 4mss. While it certainly does have many different ways of being used that all combine to take out a massive portion of the metagame, you're limited to only being able to use one at a time, which means you'd have to constantly be cycling out Metagross sets to keep people on their toes.

A Rank
Landorus-Therian:-1/S Landorus-Therian finds itself bending over backwards to beat all the things it wants to. It has to run max speed for PZ, special bulk for HP Ice, Physical bulk for Gyarados, etc. The main reason I included staying the same rank as a possibility is because it forces people to second guess themselves in regards to whether it's Groundium or Flyinium in the same way people have to guess whether Charizard is X or Y.

Porygon-Z:+1 Porygon-Z has also been happily losing threats with each suspect. Nowadays, there are tons of ways to use PZ between being bulked, being fast, being Choiced, etc. Pretty much everyone has their own kind of PZ set, and I believe that that alone should reflect on the versatility this thing has to offer.

Tapu Lele:+1 Tapu Lele is also reaping the benefits of less and less threats. When dealing with it, you're always stuck having to figure out whether it has physical bulk, special bulk, max speed, taunt, even Choiced, etc, all of which only help to make Lele incredibly hard to predict, on top of the beyond Zard-Y level of power it's bringing with Z-Psychic/Psyshock.

Zygarde-Complete:S


A- Rank
Greninja:+1 Greninja's ability to make everyone second guess themselves is staggering. It has a move/set for pretty much every mon on the VR (some better than others) and even still cleans out large chunks of the upper and lower meta with Specs alone.

Lopunny-Mega:S

Magnezone:S

Slowbro-Mega:+1 As always, Slowbro just hardwalls massive portions of the meta, both physical and special. It certainly has weaknesses, I just believe it has less than the other mons of A- Rank.

Venusaur-Mega:-1 Who let this thing into A-? The only mon of A- to S that it reliably beats is Lopunny, and that alone should spell out this mon's viability. It at least cleans out the B+ mons, but even then, that's still the best it can do. It has many different movesets and spreads to choose from, but they all pretty much do the same thing/have the same weaknesses.


B+ Rank
Aegislash:+1 It cleans out a lot of the metagame with either Z-move you give it, and has great coverage moves to handle other threats like Magnet Rise, Metal Sound, Laser Focus (it's good, I swear!), etc. Physical is also a bit of an untapped resource, so it still has room to grow even further, potentially.

Altaria-Mega:+1 Cleaning out the S ranks and Dragonite should be enough, yet this mon only continues to be one of the best examples of bulky offense in the meta, almost always having a coverage slot or two available for it to do whatever it wants with, in addition to its core moves of Roost + Pixilate-boosted attack.

Donphan:-1/-2 Donphan's best set it honestly its level 25 FEAR set, which doesn't even do anything to help it, since the fact that it's level 25 is immediately revealed at team preview. The next best thing it has going for it is Choice Band, which does let it clean out a lot of threats, at the expense of being able to nuke + Ice Shard like it can with Groundium, in addition to often relying on having to hit consecutive 80% accuracy moves.

Gardevoir-Mega:S

Genesect:+1 Simply put, Genesect beats way too much to only be B+ rank. Additionally, physical is an untapped resource, as well as Z-move sets, so it definitely has plenty of building room for those who want to experiment with it.

Golem:-1/-2 It's really not bringing as much to the table as Donphan, besides Rock STAB and Rock Blast. If we ignore the fact that Choice Band Donphan has really low usage and use the set's matchups to compare to Golem's, Donphan is just plain superior in almost all regards.

Jumpluff:+1 It basically soft checks most of the entire VR now, thanks to Grassium, making it beat about as much as Snorlax did (if Yawn were 75% accurate). It's almost always had great options for coverage moves over Protect, such as Encore, Strength Sap, Infestation, Cotton Spore if you really hate zard, etc.

Meloetta:+1 Meloetta has certainly enjoyed a meta without Mimikyu, Snorlax, or Koko. The growing popularity of Laser Focus has made Meloetta into an excellent special-killer of sorts. Meloetta is very flexible when it comes to setbuilding, making it unpredictable movewise, spreadwise, and even itemwise (if Specs is still a thing).

Mew:+1 Mew certainly appreciates Mimikyu, Snorlax, and Koko being gone. Genesis Supernova has gotten much better, people are starting to realize Calm Mind is a good move, and I've even made a neat set that beats both zards (given that you know the zard form in advance). I'd even argue for +2, but I think it'd be better that we stick to what's obvious to a majority of people, for now.

Naganadel:S

Primarina:+1/S Primarina cleans things out pretty much just the same as Altaria does, exchanging a few better/worse matchups, like Metagross for Dragonite. The reason why I think it could possibly stay B+ as well is that it lacks the viable sustain that Altaria has.

Tapu Fini:S


B Rank
Aggron-Mega:S (I could see Aggron going to B+ if we combine it with regular Aggron, as we've done for Charizard, Blaziken, and Sceptile)

Blaziken:-1 While it may have a similar damage output to zardx, Fighting is a much worse offensive/defensive typing to have for 1v1 without having the bulk to back it up. When combined with regular Blaziken and all the potential sets the two could run, they can beat pretty much everything, but usage stats don't really reflect people using it to that potential, so I believe it should drop, until that happens.

Chansey:S

Ferrothorn:+1 Ferrothorn's been pretty buildable for as long as it's been in 1v1. It certainly appreciates the lacking presence of Snorlax and 50/50's with Cursikyu. It has a very wide variety of viable moves, spreads, and items that all combine to make Ferrothorn a somewhat-unpredictable type wall.

Garchomp:S (You could possibly argue a case for B+ if you combine it with Megachomp, but even then idk)

Heatran:+1 Heatran's always had several moves to choose from that all made it unpredictable and viable. Grassium-Z has only aided Heatran in giving it a way to deal with the Water types that would otherwise have countered it, at the expense of losing Air Balloon.

Heracross-Mega:-1 Heracross simply gets eaten alive by over half of just about every rank all the way down to C+ or C.

Kartana:+1 Grassium alone eats up good chunks of each rank, but when combined with Band and other possible sets, I really think Kartana is worthy of B+.

Kommo-o:+1 Kommo-o is very buildable in terms of spreads. While it effectively only really has one good set, it still uses it very well.

Mawile-Mega:S

Necrozma:+1 The Necrozma set I like to refer to as Jacrozma (James' Necrozma) has blown a quite a bit since its initial introduction. While it certainly is Taunt bait, it effectively mandates that you have Taunt, else it just sets up and wins. The problem with Taunt, however, is that you risk getting completely blasted away by Specs. Because of this versatility and viability between each set, I believe Necrozma is worthy of B+, if not potentially higher.

Pinsir-Mega:S

Sableye-Mega:+1 Sableye has been getting lowkey better without people even noticing. It's only gained viability from the removal of Mimikyu, Curselax, and Koko. Add this to the viable variety of moves and spreads that it has, and you've got yourself a great mon.

Sawk:-1 With Flame Charge becoming mainstream, Sawk's former niche of being able to combat Charizard has crumbled. Not to mention, Sawk's sets have only gotten increasingly more one-dimensional as time has progressed, to such extent that it no longer even acts as a possible check to Gyarados as it once used to (It still can, people just don't use it for that anymore).

Tyranitar-Mega:+1 It performs the role of beating essentially everything that doesn't have a super effective STAB quite well. In addition, it's quite buildable, having many spreads and movesets that all work quite well.

Zeraora:+1 Zeraora has been surprisingly effective at handling a lot of metagame threats, high and low (mostly high). I feel that Charge + Z-Thunder is a bit slept on, as it allows Zeraora to handle a lot of defense boosters, but even then, it's been pretty effective at challenging the upper metagame.


B- Rank
Blastoise-Mega:S

Blissey:S

Celesteela:+1 Leech Seed stall just outright beats a lot, combine it with the offensive capabilities it has, and it's worth B imo.

Crustle:S

Diancie-Mega:+1 While sets are often pretty generic, what really matters is understanding how to dance around matchups with pre-mega plays, like Rock Tomb vs Gyarados and Porygon-Z. Add regular Diancie to it and you've definitely got a B worthy mon, maybe even B+.

Durant:S

Gengar-Mega:-1 Realistically, there are just too many matchups that Gengar needs more than just hitting Hypnosis to win, most of which being matchups where you need a 2nd turn of sleep, due to boosted Hex not being enough to OHKO. If you really wanted to keep Gengar at B-, the best I could suggest is adding regular Gengar to it, as regular Gengar does have some decent niche to it with Specs/Ghostium/etc.

Hoopa-Unbound:S

Swampert-Mega:S

Togekiss:S

Victini:+1 The thing has about as many sets as Kyub, and they're all good! A case could even be made for B+, but we'll leave that for later.

Volcarona:+1 Has a great variety of moves backing it up, a good speed tier, a very helpful ability, etc. The ability to take on either physical or special threats at the simple change of a move makes it very splashable and buildable.

Whimsicott:S


C+ Rank
Archeops:+1 Punches through a surprisingly large number of threats, and isn't limited to a single viable set or item.

Avalugg:S

Buzzwole:+1 Absolutely obscene physical bulk that even lets it eat Megagross Zen Headbutt. Can run a wide variety of items (Though Fightinium and Buginium are best) and moves.

Carracosta:S

Deoxys-S:+1 Soft checks most of the VR, given that you don't get crit, and are good at predicting stuff like Zard-X vs Y or when someone's about to use Taunt.

Excadrill:-1 With Mimikyu gone, Excadrill just isn't good for much, anymore, beyond a high-power Z-move. It just needs too much bulk or too much speed to cover other things.

Gallade-Mega:+1 Good defensive typing, decent enough bulk, speed tier, and excellent variety of moves all combine to make Gallade a surprisingly good anti-meta threat.

Incineroar:+1/+2 Intimidate and good bulk is always a great combo, add in a neat Z-move and great moveset, and you've got yourself a good mon. Also pretty nice not having to run a shitton of speed and Flame Charge to beat Mimikyu.

Kyurem:+1 Good stats all around and the capability of stalling down while at the same time being capable of delivering a very strong Z-Blizzard/Ice Beam at any given moment makes Kyurem p cool.

Latios:S

Marowak-Alola:S

Medicham-Mega:+1 Medicham is part of the reason why so many things are running Protect. It cleans out a good chunk of upper rank mons with the right moves and a great speed tier backing it up.

Pheromosa:+1 Has good STAB moves and coverage for dealing with threats, as well as an excellent speed tier that surpasses Lopunny. Can also be toyed around with for certain bulk benchmarks when combined with moves like Lunge or Quiver Dance.

Porygon2:+1 It eats just about everything that isn't a nuclear Fighting move. Has a very wide variety of moves that all allow it to take on different threats, different spreads, and even 3 great choices in abilities. The only real struggle it has is with special setup mons.

Scizor-Mega:+1 While it definitely struggles with being Taunt bait and easily cteam-able with random Fire coverage, Scizor still manages to eat up a lot of physical threats, while also being able to snag some wins against special threats through virtue of typing alone.

Tapu Bulu:+1 Very easily buildable, even if it only mostly uses Grassium. Taunt + setup is always great.

Terrakion:S

Umbreon:+1 Great bulk, can be given many different spreads for handling different things, good moveset that allows it to dismantle heavy hitters while at the same time being able to disrupt stall with Taunt.

Vivillon:+1 Without even factoring in the possibility of mons not running max speed, Vivillon autowins vs a lot of the upper and lower ranks.


C Rank
Blacephalon:+1 Has a wide variety of item options, and Specs alone takes on a good chunk of threats.

Camerupt-Mega:+1 STABs + Ancientpower alone eat up a ton, adding Yawn into the mix only gives it a chance vs even more.

Entei:+1 A well-made Rockium set eats a bunch of the upper VR on its own, let alone all the other possibilities, such as Firium or even Rump's AV.

Garchomp-Mega:X (hopefully will be combined with Garchomp)

Haxorus:+1 Scarf and Band really screw with the upper VR, not to mention other possible alternatives with Z-moves.

Hydreigon:+1 I was uncertain on this one, but its speed, power, coverage, and typing all combine to give it advantageous matchups vs quite a lot of the upper VR.

Infernape:+1 Fake Out and a high-powered Fire move is always nice, especially when it can be physical or special.

Keldeo:S

Krookodile:+1 TDA's set is neat.

Landorus:-1 Landorus hasn't been the same since Flame Charge. It 50/50's zardx, struggles outspeeding everything else it needs to, doesn't deal enough damage without a Life Orb, and is outclassed by Lando-T for physical and special Z-moves (I think).

Latias-Mega:+1 Between Charm/CM and Reflect Type, I feel like Latias-M beats way too much to be just C.

Meowstic-M:S

Nihilego:+1 It can beat a good chunk of upper VR between Acid Spray Z-move and Specs.

Pidgeot-Mega:S

Skarmory:+1 Good enough speed tier to take advantage of strategies like SD Taunt, while at the same time having a great defensive typing, bulk, and access to Roost.

Relicanth:-1 People have learned and adapted to Relicanth, at this point. It doesn't beat much, and pretty much all of its stats besides Defense are insufficient to be ranked at even C.

Thundurus-Therian:+1 Charge + Z-Thunder is way too slept on. Throw in Sub and now you have wiggle room around nukes like Lele.

Type: Null:+1 While it is a bit of an oddity, Null is insanely bulky, and has the setup to make it even more so.


C- Rank
Cloyster:+1 Actually punches through a decent number of mons with Icicle Spear and a Life Orb.

Lucario-Mega:S

Manaphy:+1/+2 Manaphy takes on decent chunks of the meta just with the set I shared above, throw in stuff like CM and I'd even argue it could go to the B's.

Ninetales-Alola:+1 Takes on a pretty sizable number of threats just with the combination of Blizzard/Sub/Z-Moonblast/Freeze Dry

Pyukumuku:+1 Eats hits for days and stalls. It has decent move variety between Soak/Taunt/Toxic/Hail/etc. Can be built to take on particular matchups to cover team weaknesses, making it a pretty splashable team support.

Quagsire:+1/+2 Same as Pyu, but also not quite instantly doomed vs Taunt users. Main downside is being stuck with Normalium, but Z-Stockpile is at least really good to make up for it.

Rhyperior:+1 While it may struggle in many matchups, it can still be tailored to win vs things like Magearna, Dragonite, Magnezone, etc.

Serperior:+1 Wins many matchups simply through virtue of being a fast and bulky Grass type with Z-Leaf Storm; Contrary and the other 3 moves all help in tailoring it for whatever your team needs it to beat.

Salazzle:+1 Between Z-Overheat and Z-Belch, it snags a surprising amount of wins.

Suicune:S


D Rank
Abomasnow-Mega:+1/+2 I looked into matchups and did a bit of teambuilding, and lo and behold, it's actually really good! Albeit selectively good at being anti-meta, but way better than D Rank, at least.

Alakazam-Mega:+1/+2 Megazam just isn't that great anymore, thanks to Z-moves getting around the old Encore/Disable trick, however regular Alakazam is actually quite proficient at nuking things with Z-Future Sight, and I feel that that alone brings it up to C- or C. Alternatively, you could unrank Megazam and switch it to regular Alakazam, do what you think is best.

Aron:+1/+2 As much as FEAR is frowned upon, it still does a good job at catching mons that don't run Sub or any form of passive damage (Metal Burst is a good move I swear).

Azumarill:+1 While it isn't exactly great, it at least has sufficient bulk and power to experiment around with. Again, not amazing, but not worth unranking imo.

Barbaracle:Unrank Barbaracle isn't doing much of anything anymore, with Kyurem-Black and Snorlax both gone (nor was it really used much when they were around, to begin with).

Breloom:+1/+2 Outspeeding things with a 100% accuracy Sleep move would be nice on literally anything, let alone something with Poison Heal and Leech Seed, as well as sufficient capability of dealing damage.

Clefable:+1 Clefable is neat, albeit a bit squishy. Like Azumarill, it's definitely worth experimenting with and keeping on the VR.

Dusclops:+1 It nets a lot of wins through virtue of taking hits with its obscene bulk and stalling opponents down. Another mon worth experimenting with.

Magneton:+2/+3 It's basically just a faster, frailer, weaker Magnezone without Mirror Coat or the viability to use Specs. A majority of matchups are basically the same, and could be argued for even higher placement as a result.

Manectric-Mega:Unrank Pretty much any niche it once had in being a fast Electric attacker is now gone with the inclusion of Zeraora.

Sceptile:+2/+3 In the same sense as Serperior, Sceptile and its Mega get a decent number of wins against the upper VR simply from being a fast, special attacking Grass type. While their movesets are a bit more limited, they make up for it by having considerably more Speed and Special Attack, making that Frenzy Plant hit hard, in addition to outspeeding Lopunny and Gyarados after Dragon Dance.

Slaking:+2/+3 While it may be a bit old, the classic Band nuke still works wonders, especially with the decrease in max speed zards since its introduction.

Smeargle:+2/+3 The addition of Z-Transform has only made Smeargle's life much easier, even if it can't cheese matchups against faster opponents without Quick Claw.

Stunfisk:+1 As much as I hate this stupid thing, being a bulky, special attacking Ground type with Yawn has decent-ish benefits against an ok number of upper VR threats. If I wanted to keep the D rank, I'd leave it, but I don't.

Talonflame:+2/+3 Priority Z-Bird gets kills, while Taunt/Roost/WoW/Bulk Up/SD/etc are all great moves that breathe viability into this bird.

Volcanion:+2/+3 Volcanion is a weird, interesting mon with great STABs and coverage moves between Flame Charge, WoW, and Sludge Bomb/Wave. It shares many aspects in common with Heatran, in the sense of taking on many Steel types and Fire types at the same time.

Unranked Nominations
Empoleon:B Rank I know this might be a little high, but I believe it's 100% suitable for it (B- minimum, otherwise). Z-Hydro Cannon demolishes so much of the upper VR. Water/Steel is excellent defensive typing backed up with pretty great bulk, to boot. Laser Focus allows it to punch through other special setup, and Ice Beam, Icy Wind, Yawn, and Flash Cannon are all great coverage to hit the Water resists. Empoleon itself is very buildable, spreadwise, having a variety of ways you can use it to take on threats, making it hard to get an exact read on what it's gonna do in battle.

Chandelure:B- Rank To my surprise, Chandelure actually took out a bunch of the VR (about 60 mons ((most of which were lower ranks))). It'd be higher if it weren't at a bit of a disadvantage vs the upper VR, but cleaning out everything else is nice, too. It's also not limited to just TSC's set, there's always the more traditional fast Chandelure with Choice items, or Firium, or Flame Charge, or Taunt, or something, so it's not entirely one-dimensional. The lowest I'd be willing to budge for it is C+, because I really do believe it's worth something.

Zapdos:B- Rank It is pretty much Thundurus-Therian, but with Heat Wave, Reflect, and Roost in exchange for Volt Absorb. While you kinda sacrifice the Zard-Y matchup due to not reliably outspeeding it, you gain a lot more, due to the ability to run bulky sets, thanks to Roost. Key matchups that you gain being: Dragonite, Lopunny, Naganadel (50/50 between Charge/Roost vs Draco/Sludge Wave), Garchomp (I think), Heracross, Kartana (Choice Band), Avalugg, etc. It also has a massive variety of moves to choose from, between Thunder/Zap Cannon, Charge, HP Ice, Heat Wave, Roost, Metal Sound, Reflect and Laser Focus.

Cobalion:C/C+ Rank I'm not entirely sure on this one, but the gist of it is that it's actually pretty good on the special side, thanks to Calm Mind. Physical Cobalion is still an option, which only adds to its versatility. It may not be perfect, but it's at least capable of taking on a good range of threats.

A+ Rank
Dragonite A+ > S
Metagross-Mega A+ > A

A Rank
Landorus-Therian A > A-
Porygon-Z A > A+
Tapu Lele A > A+

A- Rank
Greninja A- > A
Slowbro-Mega A- > A
Venusaur-Mega A- > B+

B+ Rank
Aegislash B+ > A-
Altaria-Mega B+ > A-
Donphan B+ > B
Genesect B+ > A-
Golem B+ > B
Jumpluff B+ > A-
Meloetta B+ > A-
Mew B+ > A-
Primarina B+ > A-

B Rank
Blaziken B > B-
Ferrothorn B > B+
Heatran B > B+
Heracross-Mega B > B-
Kartana B > B+
Kommo-o B > B+
Necrozma B > B+
Sableye-Mega B > B+
Sawk B > B-
Tyranitar-Mega B > B+
Zeraora B > B+

B- Rank
Celesteela B- > B
Diancie-Mega B- > B
Gengar-Mega B- > C+ (B- still if we combine it with regular Gengar)
Victini B- > B
Volcarona B- > B

C+ Rank
Archeops C+ > B-
Buzzwole C+ > B-
Deoxys-S C+ > B-
Excadrill C+ > C
Gallade-Mega C+ > B-
Incineroar C+ > B-
Kyurem C+ > B-
Medicham-Mega C+ > B-
Pheromosa C+ > B-
Porygon2 C+ > B-
Scizor-Mega C+ > B-
Tapu Bulu C+ > B-
Umbreon C+ > B-
Vivillon C+ > B-

C Rank
Blacephalon C > C+
Camerupt-Mega C > C+
Entei C > C+
Garchomp-Mega (Added to Garchomp)
Haxorus C > C+
Hydreigon C > C+
Infernape C > C+
Krookodile C > C+
Landorus C > C-
Latias-Mega C > C+
Nihilego C > C+
Skarmory C > C+
Relicanth C > C-
Thundurus-Therian C > C+
Type: Null C > C+

C- Rank
Cloyster C- > C
Manaphy C- > C
Ninetales-Alola C- > C
Pyukumuku C- > C
Quagsire C- > C
Rhyperior C- > C
Serperior C- > C
Salazzle C- > C

D Rank
Abomasnow-Mega D > C-
Alakazam-Mega D > C- (fused/replaced with Alakazam)
Aron D > C-
Azumarill D > C-
Barbaracle D > Unranked
Breloom D > C-
Clefable D > C-
Dusclops D > C-
Magneton D > C
Manectric-Mega D > Unranked
Sceptile D > C
Slaking D > C
Smeargle D > C
Stunfisk D > C-
Talonflame D > C
Volcanion D > C

Now, since I know this would be a massive change, here's what the VR would look like, after implementation (if we implement these)
S Rank
Charizard-Mega
Dragonite
Gyarados-Mega


A+ Rank
Magearna
Porygon-Z
Tapu Lele

A Rank
Greninja
Metagross-Mega
Slowbro-Mega
Zygarde-Complete


A- Rank
Aegislash
Altaria-Mega
Genesect
Jumpluff
Landorus-Therian
Lopunny-Mega
Magnezone
Meloetta
Mew
Primarina

B+ Rank
Ferrothorn
Gardevoir-Mega
Heatran
Kartana
Kommo-o
Naganadel
Necrozma
Sableye-Mega
Tapu Fini
Tyranitar-Mega
Venusaur-Mega
Zeraora

B Rank
Aggron-Mega
Celesteela
Chansey
Diancie-Mega
Donphan
Garchomp/Mega
Golem
Mawile-Mega
Pinsir-Mega
Victini
Volcarona

B- Rank
Archeops
Blastoise-Mega
Blaziken
Blissey
Buzzwole
Chandelure
Crustle
Deoxys-S
Durant
Empoleon
Gallade-Mega
***Gengar-Mega
Heracross-Mega
Hoopa-Unbound
Incineroar
Kyurem
Medicham-Mega
Pheromosa
Porygon2
Sawk
Scizor-Mega
Swampert-Mega
Tapu Bulu
Togekiss
Umbreon
Vivillon
Whimsicott
Zapdos

C+ Rank
Avalugg
Blacephalon
Carracosta
Camerupt-Mega
Entei
***Gengar-Mega
Haxorus
Hydreigon
Infernape
Krookodile
Latias-Mega
Latios
Marowak-Alola
Nihilego
Skarmory
Terrakion
Thundurus-Therian
Type: Null

C Rank
Cloyster
Cobalion
Excadrill
Keldeo
Magneton
Manaphy
Meowstic-M
Ninetales-Alola
Pidgeot-Mega
Pyukumuku
Quagsire
Rhyperior
Salazzle
Sceptile
Serperior
Slaking
Smeargle
Talonflame
Volcanion

C- Rank
Abomasnow-Mega
***Alakazam-Mega
Aron
Azumarill
Breloom
Clefable
Dusclops
Landorus
Lucario-Mega
Relicanth
Stunfisk
Suicune


Unranked
***Alakazam-Mega (if not fused with Alakazam)
Barbaracle
Manectric-Mega

*** meaning that the Pokemon in question is either a Mega Evolution or pre-Mega form whose ranking may vary with whether or not we combine their entries in the VR.

Wanted by popular demand of a few people in chat and because nobody in the VR council said anything.
 
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