RU ADV RarelyUsed

[LpZ]

Doing a lil thread movement

Easily #1, great offensive and utility toolkit, great status spreader, great coverage, great speed, great everything, I've even grown to appreciate Petaya and Wish sets again.

Is arguably above Wrath but just not a whole lot, probably the most potent breaker in the tier with very welcome bulk and versatility, although I would just always run offensive sets with 4A or 3A Counter. setup capabilities and rock resist is still very relevant to any team in need, BU 3A or ChestoRest have been my favorites, MixWrath has just been outclassed by Toed but still a set due to added rock resist.
is really damn annoying to switch into, I've never been a huge sun guy but the SpDef set is a fucking pain with Stun STABs or even Encore, one of the best Raichu switch-ins that also checks fighters. is incredible, both defensive and offensive sets are really annoying to deal with, I've even seen CM Salac recently, the rise of things like Cacturne is a bit odd for the coverage choices. WRs are atrocious across the board but I just cannot rank this lower yet, the speed brings too much to the table and waters being p much all very offensive is a + to it.

is one of the biggest winners of this new meta, great power for the tier, Spikes immunity even though Spikes are much less common and defensive utility by being a good check to Meg and Banette if no status (rare).

nice check to the birbs and psychics, hits really hard with CB and is still very annoying with Sub TWave. is honestly slept on, there is just no good switch-ins to the Refresh set at all, very often trades 2 for 1 with that set. with TWave and Wisp is what you should use on it rn, reduces the switch-ins a lot really, still very useful for being a softcheck to quite a bit in the tier, Salac DBond still exists but I'm not big on it rn. has dogshit stats and typing, but it has been decent as a Spiker, with bulk invest and enough speed it rarely goes down without getting a layer up and it still has some cool traits, Counter is really big for being able to deal with random Hidden Powers from Raichu and Xatu but there is Encore and Tox too, EndSalac with DBond is cool as well. is still great, its just ded if it eats Tox, unfort doesnt make Balance good by itself but its a good mon on its own. I've come to really like this mon, it checks a LOT, fires, Clef, rocks and most importantly Raichu, it does have to be aware of Tox though but it owns everything I mention if they lack it.

obviously fell off duh but it does some things at least and imo it really needs Wisp to function, Sub/End Pinch berries are super mid. is really good but god it is difficult to slot it when Toed is so damn good. still got a multitude of unique defensive traits but Amity has brightened me with the idea of more mixed sets, I've used Psychic Metang before for Wrath but shes right about Meteor Mash NOT being a serious move rn, and it can even function as a weird Pursuiter vs Haunter, Banette and Xatu. is in an awkward spot rn, Pidgeot totally outclasses the CB set, but 3A TWave is still a fair set annoying to switch into, the speed tier is just a bit unfortunate being outsped by Bat and Pikachu and Intimidate doesnt do a lot for its frailty, being considerably less bulky than Pidg and lacking the spikes immunity. is great for spikeless offenses, comes in on a lot and threaten Explosion or some really nice damage, good tank and even immune to Tox.

still sucks, fits better on fatter teams but its still ass and suffers heavily from 4MSS. breaks really well, it just hates how common Pidg is to rk it. is a nice sidegrade from Xatu lacking Ice and Elec weakness, but being slow and weaker does influence its viability, I can see this becoming better but Xatu is still reigning supreme. only works for ParaSpam, otherwise outclassed by Whiscash.

hates how harder Spikes access became, it depended on that a bit to break stuff and Pidg is simply better, it is not useless though since killing Rai and Dash will always have some value. owns fighters to get Spikes up but it is really easy to be taken advantage of still, especially if ur running Damp Toed. is kinda dead, spinblocking isnt that big of a deal at least yet, it only fits on fat structures and its not even required on these. sucks ass, but CB is ok to switch into CM Xatu and hit decently hard.

used to only run a lead set that barely works anymore, has very few exceptions to work over Mantine which is already not seen enough, whole niche depended on Glalie, its a kinda lost mon and very close to UR-worthy. only sets up on birds, still can't deal with the grasses and Wrath so win paths become veeeeeery limited, Mach Chan is just too common for its taste as well. a water and dark that does not function exactly as a Water nor a Dark and loses to what it would be supposed to check, still looks like an ok breaker but the absolute lack of defensive value takes it out of the picture. exclusive to stall and it actually works there, stall sucks though and its not even required there. = Shopee Toed with boom that also happens to lose to Toed.

I've seen some Kecleon, Vigoroth and Arbok (also used Bok once) but not enough to the point I'd know if and where to rank these.

 

[THE_CHUNGLER]

Here's my updated VR, not ordered in tiers. Thanks to Amity For helping me fall in love with this tier again in RUCL, she helped me a lot with building teams and pretty much every team I used has her hand in it one way or the other. No time to teamdump now but maybe I'll share some later. Random thoughts in no concrete order ahead, beware.


Unwallable long term as well as excellent defensive value, can munch on a raichu tbolt for god's sake if you really need it to. Defensive sets are also perfectly good though it's rated highly because of the offense here. Counter Toxic Sub are all options I'd rate on a breaking set, probably has more evil combinations of moves you can run if able to afford dropping hp electric. Toed teams can be abused defensively if you're not careful but I will leave any more explanation on that as an exercise for the reader.

Hitmonchan doesn't revenge kill everything, but it gets pretty damn close to the stuff that's important. Strong reliable priority is a god send and it has coverage to hit everything but obviously you can't fit all of the moves. good soft check to politoed clicking coverage, takes raichu's hits fine enough to not force mach punch every time they face off.


I really grew to love this mon, the increase in politoed usage is amazing for it (as opposed to Wrath.) A Normal resist is crucial and it does that job perfectly fine. Comes in early game to twave and to scare shit out. In the lategame if you paralyze the right targets it can get a crucial trade or just murder.


Still the most unwallable breaker in the tier and it can run any item it wants. I haven't used it myself but I haven't been convinced that it doesn't still tear shit up in the back like in lead so its very high for me. revenged by hitmonchan but still doesnt hurt to have in the chan matchup since intimidate will always be useful for offense. Doesn't need spikes to break everything so its gone up in my opinion despite often only fitting as lead.


Amazing breaker and it can do it with no offensive investment, the base stats and base power of its moves are just that strong. ground typing versus raichu without surf is so fuckin free its not funny.

and
The Bert and Ernie of ADV RU folks. Defensive utility that every team needs though they come in the flavor of your choosing. Body slam meganium put in nasty work for me so I would recommend it into a no haunter scout. The defensive sets for Vic are still very hard to switch into and check raichu better but SD is a nuke and we've seen crazy SD sets on both of these grass types steal games. I used more Meganium this tour because xatu and politoed live in my nightmares.


Still the pokemon I am the most pressed to cover in the builder since its answers are sometimes awkward to fit on teams. I don't use it as much partially because I'd love to never play another dash mirror ever again. Sometimes it can feel awkward without spikes to support it. If dash misses a KO by a hair and is forced to trade with something slower, dash is taking a lot of damage or status for it. Also kind of needs its item to protect from status or give it a power boost, so I really don't run lefties which makes the bulk a bit worse. Still great still the best revenge killer in the tier so you have tor respect it and probably use it yourself.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

My VR. Mons from B+ and above are ordered.

Some explanations I want to give or for mons that I seem to disagree with others on:
I'm a bit lower on Poliwrath than everyone else it seems. When building, I just usually found myself wanting Toed more. I do want to mention defensive resttalk sets though. If Aggron and Kabutops continue to be as good as they are now, defensive poliwrath is definitely better than Toed's resttalk variants.
I kinda have no idea where to rank this and Golbat. In preparation it felt like they were often the biggest threat I had to keep in mind, but with Aggron rising in popularity, they just wind up thudding into a lot of matchups. I ranked Pidgeot higher because I found that adamant non-choiced sets are pretty useful for playing around flying type answers. Sludge bomb doesput in work vs steelless teams though.
I almost put the camel in A- and I genuinely think it could be that good. It's a big winner of glalie rising and raichu becoming the tier's top dog, as you get compounding boosts to longevity when not needing to switch in on spikes. Camel works best on paraspam teams, but Amity and Chungler have shown me the light of physdef camel in general.
Another mon I think greatly benefits from Glalie's (and therefore spikes') departure and Toeds running less damp. It's probably the most reliable fighting type answer in the tier and also just functions as a generic switch in to a bunch of mons it doesn't properly counter. Counter and explosion give you high damage options to force out a lot of mons that you wouldn't otherwise beat 1v1, letting you get more lefties recovery and either go kaboom or fish for poison.
These are two *much* lesser water types, but I think they have a specific niche. As mentioned earlier, I think we've kind of come full circle on damp and explosion. Boom mons were popular in the very early days, then damp frogs made me just stop considering them entirely, and now that they are off-meta, you can catch people who are trying to improve their water mirror match by surprise with wailord. Pelipper has never quite been popular, but I think it genuinely has a niche vs some mons. A lot of Rapidash sets are answered extremely well by Peli, Camerupt is on the rise and a lot of fighting types are not packing rock slide. That at least keeps it out of the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Also sharing the teams I like from RUCL. Big thanks to Tack for helping with building:

This is the first team I built after using something Tack passed me week 1. I hadn't played ADV in a long time and so I used a lot of old mons and old sets. Lead Stantler still works, just maybe find a better form of speed control and normal resist than salac haunter. The cacturne set is the only spike setter I think I like. Lefties Cacturne and Pineco just feel like you are playing 5v6 too much and Roselia is just hard to use.

Tack helped me build this because I really wanted to use Whiscash after watching it go off in the first 2 weeks. Tack also convinced me that adamant silk scarf Pidgeot is good because it is. Sometimes even band can feel too weak and being able to switch your attack removed a lot of my biggest problems with Pidgeot.

This team was just so fun to use. Aggron, Meganium and Banette is a very strong core and it's so fun to use taunt Banette.

I think the previous team just kind of gave me a paraspam fixation I didn't recover from. This is a fat form of paraspam, but I think it's also very solid and I would have won if I didn't choke extremely hard. A couple changes I would make are adding a ground type and maybe fiddling with banette and Poliwrath. Wrath was trying to prep for fat and passive builds from my opponent. Also I think twave raichu needs surf as a 4th move if camel keeps rising.

The final week. I like the team a lot, another paraspam build, but I just got wrecked by Chungler using another camel paraspam. Twave encore Raichu was really greedy and I should have been using surf instead. When playing I felt like I was really missing Meganium and Golbat was being useless, but that might just be because I was facing an Aggron team. An easy change to be better vs Aggron would be changing the Toed to Wrath and Chan to something else.

 

[Rambode]

My VRs. Here are a few explanations for some stuff I feel might bear explaining:

Poliwrath - To be honest, I have a tough time choosing between Politoed and Poliwrath, while in general I do think Politoed is slightly more splashable, Poliwrath's Belly Drum set is completely stupid, has huge potential to rob otherwise unwinnable sets and usually requires that nothing lets it set up for free (either through 6 threats or through very careful maneuvering), something that can revenge it or one of the few mons that can actually live a +6 Reversal and HP Ghost.

Stantler - Intimidate utility, pretty good speed tier, passable bulk, great damage with STAB Return/Dedge and decent flexibility on his last slot, between Hypnosis, Thunder Wave, Substitute or another normal STAB. I will, however, say that CB feels a little too restrictive and easy to abuse, so I usually opt for Lefties or Lum (Could Salac/Liechi with sub work?)

Kabutops - Very powerful, can either spin or SD, but being so specially frail on a metagame where, in my opinion, the 4 best pokemon are primarily special attackers is a pretty big downside, plus, having his physical STAB be base 75 power is also not great, being outdamaged, for example, comfortably by Stantler return, who's faster and has 100% accuracy (252 Atk Stantler Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Clefable: 175-207 (52.8 - 62.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO; 252 Atk Kabutops Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Clefable: 146-172 (44.1 - 51.9%) -- 14.1% chance to 2HKO)

Pikachu - Potential man, probably the strongest neutral attack in the tier by a mile, however, it is super frail and doesn't have the best speed tier for said lack of bulk. I will admit I might've underranked it a bit though.

Sneasel - Turbo frail and no physical STAB, carried by it's high attack and speed, notably outspeeding +1 Poliwrath and Rapidash, very hard to fit though and usually not worth it

Bonus: Kecleon - Would probably rank it above Sneasel. Decent alternative special check with pretty alright physical attack and access to Band Trick which, contrary to Mr. Mime, Kecleon doesn't "feel" pressured to Trick, since he's a physical attacker, making it less telegraphed. However, no one seems keen on nominating it and I sure as hell am not fighting by myself to include a low B- tier mon in the VRs by myself. I did bring it vs Heysup for RU Open Finals, so no one can argue I only want to rank it to be different (but one might still argue I am stupid for doing so ig, lol)

 

[Rambode]

Just like Sneakyplanner did, I'll be sharing some teams I liked from RU Open (Click the pokemon emotes to see the team paste):

Vs Fernanch: : Second attempt at teambuilding after the Glalie ban (the first one was really weak to Raichu so I won't be posting it here), wanted to build something stallier inspired by the teams Eeveeto used during tests for ADVPL and, at the time, I didn't rate Cacturne too highly, so I settled for Roselia as the spiker with some pokemon that can come in easily and force chip damage (SubToxTect Dash, Knock Off Tox Sableye as a spinblocker) while having longevity myself (Heal Bell on Chimecho, Rest on Poliwrath, Rapid Spin on Hitmonchan, Recover on Sableye, Protect on Dash, Synthesis on Rose), still had two setup mons to clean after enough passive damage too. In retrospect, it could struggle into some Raichu sets, some agressinve spiking with smart spinblocking and endure salac shenanigans, but it's definitely playable.

Vs Amity: : Decided to try my hand at paraspam since it's busted lol. Initially I tried going with some Pineco paraspam spikes, but, with Mielke's help, I arrived at the conclusion that it was trying to accomplish too much and, also, Pineco sucks. Stantler, again, starts the game breaking as much as possible, having Thunder Wave over Sub this time to help spread paralysis. Golbat is there as the Drumwrath answer with Quick Attack, also serving as a general fighting answer, of course. Camerupt is there to check non-surf Raichu and abuse paralysis. Despite playing in a braindead fashion for like half the game, Drumwrath still came through and won after one rest turn read, absurd pokémon. Mielke also mentioned that you can probably do Hitmonchan and Defensive Xatu (Night Shade, Reflect, Thunder Wave and Rest) over Golbat and Poliwrath, so, if anyone wants to try that out, go ahead.

Vs seed: : This time, I decided to experiment with Cacturne, as I didn't like it at the time while others thought it was the superior spiker, and I'm glad I did. I came up with what was originally a 0a Cacturne (Destiny Bond, Endure, Spikes and Encore), but decided to drop Encore for HP Grass so it wasn't so passive and, as it turns out, was a set Vroom(?) had already came up with. The idea is you set a spike up, endure to proc Salac and then either Spike again, HP Grass or just DBond while sporting an EV spread that allows it to outspeed 116 Politoed and 160 Banette at neutral, 252+ Pikachu and Golbat after Salac and living offensive Politoed Ice Beam (252+ SpA 30 IVs Politoed Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Cacturne: 268-316 (77.9 - 91.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO).
Haunter is there the spin blocker, as it's a faster-paced team, having Persian and MixDash to help spread damage, both also serving as priority and MixDash serving as a check to opposing Dashes.
Whiscash is there to help with steels, Raichu (252+ SpA 30 IVs Raichu Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Whiscash: 234-276 (55.1 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery; 4 Atk Whiscash Earthquake vs. 12 HP / 0 Def Raichu: 287-338 (108.7 - 128%) -- guaranteed OHKO) and even Rapidash (252 SpA Rapidash Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Whiscash: 340-400 (80.1 - 94.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery; 4 Atk Whiscash Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def 30 IVs Rapidash: 239-282 (88.1 - 104%) -- guaranteed OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes) and Spark to help hit flyers while spreading paralysis.
To be honest, Raichu is there because Raichu is busted and I felt AgilPetaya was the set that fit the best there as the cleaner, but you can probably do other sets here.
I will say, this was probably my favorite team that I built for RU Open.

Vs DonBoneJones : Remember how I said you could probably use another Raichu on the last team? Yeah, turns out you can even use another whole pokémon instead. Opted for Victreebel here to help against fighters and opposing Raichu even more, not much more to add. Also, Sniper Victreebel is broken.

Vs Heysup: : Decided to try lead Primeape after deciding Heysup's scout was weak to fighters, sporting a BU 3a set. Cacturne + Haunter combo again for spikes + aggresive spinblocking. Opted for Politoed as a generally good pokemon and a fire/water/steel check. Ran MixDash to, once again, help against grasses, opposing rapidash and any salac shenanigans (mainsly drumwrath). Still wanted a special check and decided to give Kecleon a try, I think it was after seeing it in a replay, but I can't remember which one. Kecleon can spread paralysis through powerful banded STAB Body Slams, hits psychics (mainly Xatu) very hard with banded shadow ball and can cripple walls with trick band, neat mon and could've won if I realized Heysup's Haunter set earlier.

Edit: Forgot to say this before posting, but big thanks to mielke and muks for helping me with building these teams

 

[Hubriz]

I tried to kinda order in the tiers, but that becomes even more diffuse the lower we go. Unfortunately I don't have the time to explain my reasonings and most things have already been said.
Huge thanks to Amity, Chungler and Metallica126 for providing great support during RUCL.

 

[mielke]

 

[Amity]

VIABILITY RANKINGS UPDATE!!! ​

Glalie is gone and ADV RU has been drastically shaken up! The meta underwent a lot of subtle but impactful changes that changed the tier across the board, and we hope our updated VR will accurately demonstrate how we have evolved since Glalie's departure. Some Pokemon have been helped out a lot, while others have took a toll for the worse. Big thanks to LpZ SpoiledBerries Rambode DonBoneJones THE_CHUNGLER mielke Sneakyplanner Zcarlett Hubriz for the help in putting this together!

Rises:

• from A+ to S
• from A to A+
• from A- to A+
• from A to A+
• from A to A+
• from B+ to A
• from B+ to A-
• from B+ to A-
• from B to A-
• from C to A-
• from B to B+
• from B to B+
• from B to B+
• from B to B+
• from B- to B
• from B- to B
• from C+ to B
• from C- to B
• from C+ to B-
• from C- to C
• from C- to C

Drops:

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

Reasonings:

Rises

Raichu is the #1 Pokemon all across the voting board, and its not hard to see why between its versatility and great breaking power. Without Glalie, not being pressed to run Focus Punch opens up its coverage very well and a lot more sets have been used to make this Pokemon skyrocket in usage for it to be the undisputed best Pokemon in ADV RU.

Glalie was a limiting factor for Politoed to be considered the best bulky water when it was still in the tier, but now that its not, Politoed is very threatening and hard to switch into. It quickly turned into one of the best leads of the tier while also being potent in the back, and most player's main way of dealing with it was by using their own Politoed and dueling it. The sheer well-roundedness and threat level of Politoed without Glalie picked it right back up to A+.

The combination of Psychic + TWave was thwarted by giving Glalie entry to spike, but now it easily makes Xatu boast some of the best offensive utility while being extremely versatile between its support, Calm Mind, and Choice Band sets alike. Its defensive profile alongside a great speed tier and useful utility have made Xatu pick up in usage even before Glalie was risen and has become a menace to account for.

Victreebel shares a similar story to Xatu with Sludge Bomb + status being very hard to switch into with Glalie gone, and it now holds a more robust role as a defensive pivot while also being able to go on the offensive side with Swords Dance, Sunny Day, or Choice Band.

As less Haunter starts to appear on teams, and with the top Pokemon losing 1v1 to Hitmonchan, it gets bumped to A+ since it has found more ways to adapt to the opposition. While the Bulk Up 3A set is still potent, Hitmonchan can also be threatening with 4 attacks, notably slotting a lot more Rock Slide due to the increased usage of birds, or Hidden Power Flying for bulky Victreebel.

As a ghost that doesn't rely on a good spikers existence to break through the opposition, Banette has seen a huge surge of use with the Wisp sets that fit well as a Normal and Fighting immune to break past bulky cores. Its offensive ceiling being very high while being a good source of support and pivoting for offensive teams has landed it in the top 10.

Every team needs a check to the birds, and what better place to look for one than Aggron, a Pokemon that has been steadily rising in the ranks since shifts started. It now lands in the A tiers as 3 attacks + TWave alongside the bread and butter SubTWave sets sees more use on offensive teams as a wallbreaker and defensive pivot.

When talking about Pokemon that have been helped a lot by Glalie leaving, Clefable is a noteworthy pick. When running into spikeless teams, Clefable is a dominant mixed tank that checks a wide range of threats that tend to be hard to switch into, including Raichu, Rapidash, and Politoed. Its general bulk precense alongside Encore also means it can 1v1 physical threats without super effective coverage or Choice Band. Being able to stonewall certain Pokemon and pester offense forces teams to account for it as to not get outlasted by the blob, landing it in the A ranks.

Unlike other Ground-types, Whiscash was particularly weak to Glalie and couldn't see a lot of consistent usage due to its Spikes weakness. However, it now reigns as the premier Ground-type of the tier as mixed attacking sets bowl through teams with its good coverage and Toxic. The list of things that Whiscash can answer appear very commonly in the meta, and it now finds more value on a game-to-game basis, bumping it up to A-.

By far the biggest jump in the VR, Cacturne's main competition leaving makes it take up the mantle as the best offensive Spiker that can pivot on Raichu and Xatu. Cacturne has held down Spikes offenses during day 1 of Glalie rise, and lands in A- as ADV Spikes continues to be hard to argue against.

While Azumarill itself hasn't had a lot of changes since the last VR shift, the Glalie rise was just icing on the cake to make the bulky sets shine as an alternative to Politoed that has Refresh. Azumarill doesn't see the most consistent streak of usage, but the niche was enough to bump it up a rank in the B tiers.

While being the worst of the birdy bunch, simply being a bird sets Golbat apart from other wallbreakers. This tied with the downswing of Poliwrath and Meganium sets that hit Golbat super effectively and the Poison resist for Victreebel has breathed new life into Golbat, with players being a bit more fond of its niche and placing it a rank higher.

Despite losing a winning matchup in the lead slot, Primeape still boasts good lead matchups across the board sporting either Choice Band or Bulk Up. One main draw to Primeape over Hitmonchan is its higher speed tier for the birds, and considering how common they are with Glalie gone, Primeape's niche of threatening slower teams holds more weight to justify a higher ranking.

Swalot shares a similar story to Clefable as a better special sponge with Glalie being gone, but distinguishes itself by being fairly offensively threatening and resisting Fighting and Poison. While it isn't on par with Clefable due to having four-moveslot syndrome and being food for Wisp Banette, its matchups elsewhere are good enough to land it in B+.

Recent tour games have shown more light to one of the most deadly antileads in the tier, Pikachu. While previously establishing that Raichu is the best wallbreaker in the tier, enabling Raichu by beating down its shared checks proves to be a potent strategy. This also proves to be effective for a multitude of Pokemon on hyper offensive teams, and Pikachu is a more commonly used lead as a result, making voters place it a tier higher.

Xatu, Hitmonchan, Meganium, Victreebel, and Whiscash are common pieces that hold together teams, and the thing they all share in common is being checked by Chimecho. Chimecho not only appreciates Glalie's leave, but it also appreciates teams giving it a bit more leeway for entry and being partnered with Pokemon that are very strong with Heal Bell support. While not the best Psychic, the best cleric is a title Chimecho holds with pride to bump it up a tier higher, and there's potential for it to be higher with more development.

Roselia has famously fluctuated the most in every ADV RU iteration, but its main competition leaving is nothing but a positive. Before, spikes stalls had been composed of some roselia structures but a lot more Glalie despite it being more prominent on offense. Now Roselia is the very main consideration as a defensive spiker for stalls and balances, and checking Raichu is in more demand than ever. While it sits in the bottom of B rank due to its passivity and defensive teams not seeing consistent use, it still deserves a rise.

Right beside Roselia is another Spiker saved by Glalie's departure, Pineco. Laying Spikes vs Hitmonchan and Victreebel is one thing, but being the only Spiker with Rapid Spin for opposing Spikes teams and Explosion to break a hole makes Pineco stand out as a replacement for Cacturne on Spikes offenses. While Pineco is the most exploitable of the Spikers, it is like Roselia where the meta around it has been a lot more condusive to its niche, making voters rank to B.

Relicanth strikes a nice balance of Aggron's ability to check the birds and Kabutops' lack of a 4x weakness to Fighting and Ground, alongside the ability to check Banette and Stantler reliably. It's hard to name any specific things that might have made Relicanth ranked higher in Glalieless, whether it be something directly buffed with it or the new VR lacking a C+, but voters have ranked it higher on average recognizing Relicanth's positive attributes.

Sneasel was saved from the depths of D tier due to Xatu being a staple Pokemon that it can pivot on and outspeeding Raichu and Rapidash. Some players even voted Sneasel as high as B-, but deep contention with this Pokemon has still landed it in C tier.

Mostly a product of the C rank merge but Wailord still holds onto the VR as Damp is less automatic to slot on Politoed, giving it a potential niche to use Explosion more liberally.

Drops

Frailer teams are a lot harder to come across in Glalieless, and Pidgeot usage is higher than ever. These things negatively affect Stantler and make the fact that it's hard to switch into not quite as relevant. It ranks on par with Pidgeot due to its praise over the lead position qualities and having TWave, but opinions have been divisive on where it should go. There are people who rank Pidgeot over Stantler, and people who rank Stantler over Pidgeot, but both have evened out to where they share the same placing in A-.

Haunter is the textbook definition of a Pokemon that was carried by Glalie in ADV RU. Without access to easy Spikes, Banette finds use on a lot more teams while the benefits that Haunter provides (those being a better matchup into mid-speed Pokemon and Explosion) are quite few considering it has to be used exclusively on Spikes offenses. These traits have led to Haunter being less used than Banette and with the latter being held in a higher regard, leading to Haunter taking a dip to B+.

Glalie offense being in its prime was the crux of Rain Dance Mantine's viability before the shift happened, and now Mantine has been struggling as a result. While pairing a Spiker is necessary with the Rain Dance set, Cacturne and Pineco have a lot more holes to be filled within the rest of the teamcomp, and Mantine often ends up being outclassed by Politoed, which has picked up more in usage over Poliwrath and thus hurts Mantines sweeping capabilities. The bulky Toxic sets don't fare much better either, as Hitmonchan opts to run more Rock Slide. Mantine's usage and winrates have only declined within all of 2025, with voters taking notice of its big downfall and ranking it in B.

Shiftry is an enigma of a Pokemon that is threatening on paper but can't seem to find a solid footing due to the drawbacks its typing provides. Meganium, Victreebel, and Cacturne usually occupy the slot that Shiftry wants to fill, with the structures around it being a bit more esoteric and reliant on a Sunny Day Rapidash endgame. Meta shifts such as Glalies leave, Haunter lowering in usage, and the birds being more used has made Shiftry a tough sell to use, leading to voters ranking it B-.

If there were a C+, Pupitar would stay there, but it did land fairly close to being ranked in B- due to its resilience to status and having some winnable endgames, but instead it dropped to C due to its general inconsistency and Hitmonchan always being a struggle to get past.

Magmar has always been in the shadow of Ninetales, being ranked a tier or two below in every ADV RU VR iteration. However, Magmar triumphs and Ninetales falls to C, as it has next to no realistic niche with Glalie gone. It only works on Fire spam teams as a way to break down checks for Rapidash, but modern versions of these teams just use Magmar, who can at least distinguish itself from Rapidash with its coverage. The lowest point for Ninetales has been reached as it falls to C.

Selling a Pokemon that is like Politoed with a few movepool differences has always been difficult, Octillery being no exception. Thunder Wave is nice but many other leads are able to click Thunder Wave, and at least they can scare out other leads to land it or aren't screwed by Lum Berry. Octillery is a matchup fish (mollusk?) thats good traits are half-baked for ADV RU. It resides in C rank as a result.

Shuckle is great at walling things and that's just about where its list of good traits ends. Stall is already quite uncommon, and not all of them are Shuckle stalls due to the fact that they already own a check to birds and Fighting types in Sableye. Pure walling is not the most effective strategy to progress in ADV RU, and voters have ranked it in C.

Exploud has always been revered as Mr. Potential Man, but in Glalieless, the joke has grown old and Exploud has very scarcely been used in tour play due to its lacking traits compared to other Normal-types. This ranking is also a product of C+ being merged into C, but it's also difficult to say Exploud is a step above the other Pokemon within its tier.

Anything that Sharpedo can do is done better by another Pokemon. Even the Choice Band set, which has been used a lot more than its special sets, is very weak to paralysis and requires heavy prediction to use effectively. Its ranking is similar to Exploud but at least people have used it to prove that it belongs in C.

Mantine is already a Pokemon struggling to maintain relevance, now imagine Mantine with a lot of the issues amplified. Sure you set up on Aggron and Pidgeot but these aren't likely to matter for Mantine anyway. Huntail was very close to being UR but was saved by a hair due to its better power.

LIGHTNING ROUND!!!

Just use Clefable. Works better with Chimecho as a cleric anyway.

Just use bulky Mantine. Even if it's bad, at least it has Haze.

Just use Rapidash. Even if you're running Wish, just use Clefable.

Just use Aggron. Booming is hard anyway.

Just use Poliwrath. Seriously why was this kept ranked for so long lol?

Just use Politoed. Whole microscopic niche depended on Glalie anyway.