My opinions on some Pokemon that maybe need tiering action: I think the tier has to many Pokemon that require multiple checks on one team and in its current state it can be very difficult to answer them all adequately in the teambuilder. In an ideal world I think one of the following Pokemon should go.
Raikou- I don’t have a problem with Raikou personally I think it has enough checks in the tier and while it is centralising it is not overbearing. However if you don’t have the right checks or you get unlucky you can quickly get overwhelmed, this to me is just the nature of Pokemon though.
Medicham- this is probably going to be an unpopular opinion but I think Medicham is unhealthy for the tier. Unlike raikou it is extremely good at overwhelming its own checks by itself with its coverage and I think the only thing keeping it somewhat ok is from faster offensive Pokemon however due to its good bulk and typing not many of them threaten to ohko it and it can ohko most of them in return. Because of this I think its presence in the tier is unhealthy.
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Glalie is maybe the most controversial pick. It isn’t a UUBL, not even UU. No it is NU, but that said, this Pokemon transcends tiers, even seeing time in OU. It does many things great. Glalie can outspeed and taunt most other Spikers other than Qwilfish. It speed-ties Dragonite and can OHKO with Ice Beam. It can set up its own Hazards, run Hidden Power Grass for Omastar, run Explosion as a catch all, or for offensive momentum. With decent Speed and bulk, Glalie will rarely fail to make at least some impact as a lead.
Lanturn. One of the biggest winners here. There was debate about what happens to Lanturn when its one role disappears- would it drop off? Would it function as a bulky water in a heap of other bulky water options? Turns out it's actually really good as an electric type (though the sheer lack of other viable options certainly helps it). Lanturn can probably be expected on every team. It doesn't have a ton of sets, but it's got just enough variety and perfect coverage that it doesn't feel like it loses much running any of them. Counters are very telegraphed, status being its number one issue in a tier packed with clerics. Good in early, mid, and late game. Big glow up, not unreasonable to put it in top 3.
Sceptile is a trade machine, able to take positive k/d often. Thank the Lord endeavor and leech seed are exclusive to each other. Because it has Substitute endeavor/leech leaf blade, it's a bit limited on move 4. Could see some experimentation. Swords dance feels like a trap but maybe someone could make it work.
Venusaur is a good sleep setter. I'd argue the best. Sub seed on top of that is annoying, but also, like tentacruel, can be awkward to respond to because it's probably physical but your physical answers don't love the type matchup. Plus switching sets up half of the sub seed. Best answer is probably Armaldo
Armaldo is a good physical answer that has a variety of sets. Rapid spin is obvious, and players have used it to success, but apparently I personally can't build a team where Armaldo is good at spinning. It will get a decent amount of turns in regardless of what you want it to do, you just need to make sure it actually does something with those turns.
Espeon is just an Alakazam that doesn't have to worry about Houndoom, but less set variety means it can't guarantee progress. Still good though.
Swellow starts the normal spam and guts clump of Pokemon in my vr. Swellow stands above them, but only if it's burned or poisoned. If you can't get it statused it's just okay. Sub Endeavor is a real set. But if it's guts offense, it's gonna start making motion and can be hard to answer.
Dodrio is *imo* the best normal spammer because Drill Peck can answer Scizor and Armaldo. Spikes immune. Best when paired with more physical offense, can't really be the sole attacker on a team. Miltank/Tauros/Dodrio are the trifecta of offense, at least one will be on a team.
Typhlosion I put in the middle of the physical spam here, which is probably higher than most would put it. I just think it's one of the strongest special finishers because of its speed and coverage thanks to thunder punch and focus punch.
Guts clump- all do similar things but hariyama has more variety, so I put it on top of them (apart from swellow). Hariyama is good knock off user, lead Pokemon, Articuno and Fire check, etc. You can assume it's thick fat, but guts is also valid. The other 2, Ursaring and Machamp, are great stall breakers and can carry a team offensively in the early and mid game. Have the edge over swellow vs thunder wave because they're already so slow.
Regirock is a strong physical check but has very limited staying power. It could use a lot of experimentation still.
Umbreon. Sometimes it's the roadblock, sometimes it's the car. It can hard wall some teams, but its limited offensive options get free turns against itself often. Extremely polarizing matchup fish
Arcanine is good, extreme speed is a strong check to a lot of Pokemon. Thief is its second best move imo. The problem is all its other stuff. It feels like it doesn't get the value that its stats and ability suggest. Miltank really farms this thing.
Rhydon is good as a Chansey response and thunder wave immune Pokemon. Choice band and 404 sub are both good choices, but the amount of water types and donphan are tough for it. Rock Head Double Edge is probably a must.
Entei is actually really good, but it needs very specific scenarios to get in and start going. Fresh in on Chansey is one of them. But trying to switch this guy into anything is a doomed scenario, save like Arcanine or something. Miltank is also quite a hurdle.
Ampharos might be a little low here, because its ability, heal bell, and electric offense are really good traits. But it doesn't have the bulk to be so slow, and opposing lanturn borderline requires it to have hp grass, restricting its ability to run anything non-standard.
Roselia having aroma therapy, leech seed, spikes, natural cure, and 100 special attack carry it higher than it really should work on paper. Very limited in how you can use it though. It's like Chansey, but if it had no defensive value or wish. I'm probably very biased for it, it should not be this high but I'm not moving it. Realistically it should be B-
Vileplume is a better aroma therapy Pokemon than Roselia. Not great into a lot of things, but it's okay if you're running out of options on a team and need its specific typing with a cleric. Very limited use cases though. If you've sussed out ice beam on Vaporeon, Blastoise or Lanturn, vileplume can help the team a lot there. Also good vs weezing and Chansey. Basically the anti-wall wall. Do not compare to Venusaur, they do different things.
Crobat is good, but whatever it locks into can be abused.
Hitmontop is the third best physical offense spinner. A little bulky, but it can get turned around on really fast. Only advantage is stab brick break being decent and Mach punch as a priority to deal with endeavor.
Hitmonlee is really good based on its speed tier, paralysis immunity and physical prowess. But it has extremely few turns on the field before it's tapping out.
Nidoking has a lot of positive traits- basically status immune, mixed offense, poison point to get around sub, good speed tier.. but it can't have it all. It's the classic "jack of all trades, master of none."
Glalie is the most unique spiker. Ice beam, earthquake and explosion put on offensive pressure but none of these are enough in the current meta to make a significant dent.
Smeargle you know what it does. Spore into spikes or belly drum.
Haunter feels like the best it can hope for is destiny bond. It doesn't get a lot of turns, and it can't do a huge amount with them. Fragile spin blocker is also not super placeable in a wide meta.
My feelings on Blaziken have not changed. On paper it's the best fire type because it also has fighting stab, and the best fighting type because it can also hit hard with special attacks. But the type chart is all its really has; taking it off of paper and playing it in the meta leaves it very lost.
Steelix is fine but almost everything has a move that hits Steelix. So it's kind of fallen off the face of the earth. A good Miltank answer, I guess. If Registeel is taken up to OU, we might see a Steelix Renaissance (but I'll probably take Aggron first)
Golduck- I was skeptical of Celdanami's calm mind golduck propaganda but the results came in and it's actually very usable.
Whether or not Lapras will be good remains to be seen, but doubtful with both Articuno and Lanturn doing its jobs for it. Maybe it's the role compression your team is looking for though
Ludicolo is in a tough spot because it's also a good rain Pokemon and sub leech user, and matches well into the water types, but idk. The rest of everything going on like physical offense and substitute and paralysis makes it hard to use.
Sharpedo in B and I am not joking. Sharpedo feels like it broke free of its shackles as a frail mixed attacker and found itself in a perfect meta for it to be threatening but not predictably occurring. Requires certain teammates, hates that it really wants choice band, and needs like 20 more EVs to work with, but overall a fair pick that could be explored. Matches well to ohko most of the lead Pokemon, and teammates can easily check the few leads that have advantage over it.
Slaking having a slower speed stat meta benefits it. Slaking having such a polarized offense vs stall meta gives it a place but hurts it.
Solrock is a good choice band user that checks most physical attackers. Limited options for itself and on teams, but it can be a good temporary check.
Lunatone is the most used calm mind passer because sharing its physical checking ability with solrock and special defense boosting means it can get a lot of attempts in. Unfortunately it still gets washed by Vaporeon and other roar users.
Cacturne is usable and good, I promise. Sub punch with leech and another move is good, just don't expect it to be a spiker and you're set. Can still run spikes if wanted though. Ranked low just because there's a few Pokemon that it just can't get through like weezing or Articuno or tentacruel. Most teams will have at least one thing good vs cacturne, but it's still good into the rest of the team. There is definitely a team out there that can solve cacturne for UUBL and I'd be interested in finding it
Linoone has it much harder now that the meta has widened out. You can no longer expect the opponent to have something it can drum against. It can still work, but it's the greatest matchup fish of the format.
Slowking is worse Slowbro. But slowbro is so good that having a worse one isn't bad. It's just a question of why use it when slowbro is an option.
Gardevoir can be used to check Vaporeon and lanturn. Its best use is full of support options, because just calm minding has better options.
Poliwrath is where I'm deciding bottom of the barrel is. It can do things on paper but it's like Blaziken where it's not great when you actually go to use it. Definitely doesn't do nothing though.
Diglett can grab Chansey, but Chansey isn't ubiquitous. Same but even worse with Houndoom. It can get a Lanturn without sub, I guess.
Kangaskhan... Actually kanga can probably be moved up to B- or somewhere (I made the image a few weeks before writing this). Like Umbreon, it either walls or gets walled.
Hypno is the other calm mind passer.
Jynx can't really fit enough options. Not even 4mss, it's struggling to get 1 of its moves to be good because the sets often dictate that it can't do more than 1 thing it's good at.
Mr mime can cheese on a well built team but you'd have to be Archimedes to design something where it's usable.
Sableye is actually the best spin blocker, but doesn't do much apart from blocking rapid spin. The other ghosts can accomplish more.
Exeggutor is at, like, that point in the beginning of a race where the runners raise their hips just before the start. It's not moving, but if something changes, Exeggutor might start running, Houndoom be darned
Porygon2 is worse Gardevoir.
Electrode is a Swellow answer and of course gets rain on track. Other than that, Ampharos is an option. But rain isn't terrific and not everyone uses Swellow.
Jumpluff is fast, spike immune Venusaur if Venusaur forgot its offensive moves at home
Quagsire checks Tentacruel, Registeel, and Lanturn unless it's Toxic. That's about it.
Cradily can switch into a normal type and get a free move in. But it doesn't get its good moves this gen. Can recover against the bands.
Nidoqueen could fit in some teams as a status immune body slam paralysis spreader. Eq also gets some chip in.
Ninjask can work as speed control, but its only place is vs offense in late game
Electabuzz and Pikachu are fast electric types but there's better options to work around water types. Still usable regardless
Trapinch is almost useless now. It still has Registeel and Alakazam over Diglett most of the time, but it's not worth an entire slot for that.