Resource AAA Viability Rankings

[LordBox]

Viability Rankings + Sample Sets (and Analyses)
Last update: 24th July, 2025​

- Each Pokemon links to its page in Smogdex.

Votes: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dRKKd9keTcZ2WudUr7JZv9oG4qzvMcTMKUaVlsaoI5I/edit?usp=sharing

	Pokémon	Abilities
S Rank
A Rank
A+
Corviknight	Corviknight	Intimidate, Fluffy, Volt Absorb, Well-Baked Body, Prankster, Immunity Abilities
Gholdengo	Gholdengo	Ground-Immunity Abilities, Well-Baked Body, Damage Amplification Abilities, Fluffy, Bulletproof, Magic Guard, Surge Surfer, Immunity Abilities
Great Tusk	Great Tusk	Fluffy, Scrappy, Mold Breaker, Regenerator, Wandering Spirit, Damage Amplification Abilities, Immunity Abilities
Roaring Moon	Roaring Moon	Sword of Ruin, Regenerator, Magic Guard, Fluffy, Tough Claws
Zamazenta	Zamazenta	Sword of Ruin, Magic Guard, Tough Claws, Scrappy
A
Deoxys-Speed	Deoxys-Speed	Sheer Force, Hadron Engine, Psychic Surge, Protean
Iron Moth	Iron Moth	Desolate Land, Sheer Force, Hadron Engine
Latios	Latios	Hadron Engine, Tinted Lens, Dragon's Maw, Adaptability
Manaphy	Manaphy	Regenerator, Motor Drive, Protosynthesis, Surge Surfer, Unaware, Fluffy
Moltres	Moltres	Desolate Land, Magic Guard
Pecharunt	Pecharunt	Prankster, Intimidate, Ground Immunity Abilities, Fluffy, Corrosion
Primarina	Primarina	Primordial Sea, Regenerator, Stamina, Sheer Force, Immunity Abilities
Zapdos	Zapdos	Primordial Sea, No Guard, Intimidate
A-
Chien-Pao	Chien-Pao	Sword of Ruin, Adaptability, Magic Guard
Garchomp	Garchomp	Adaptability, Sword of Ruin, Dragon's Maw, Regenerator, Fluffy
Iron Hands	Iron Hands	Regenerator, Earth Eater, Surge Surfer
Iron Treads	Iron Treads	Bulletproof, Well-Baked Body, Regenerator, Immunity Abilities, Magic Guard
Kingambit	Kingambit	Adaptability, Tough Claws, Tinted Lens, Sword of Ruin, Well-Baked Body
Landorus-Therian	Landorus-Therian	Fluffy, Mold Breaker, Regenerator, Sword of Ruin, Desolate Land, Well-Baked Body
Scream Tail	Scream Tail	Pixilate, Unaware, Stamina, Regenerator
Swampert	Swampert	Regenerator
Skarmory	Skarmory	Intimidate, Fluffy, Well-Baked Body, Immunity Abilities
Ting-Lu	Ting-Lu	Regenerator, Fluffy, Well-Baked Body, Bulletproof, Vessel of Ruin
B Rank
B+
Cinderace	Cinderace	Desolate Land, Magic Guard, Sword of Ruin
Gliscor	Gliscor	Fluffy, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body
Heatran	Heatran	Desolate Land, Bulletproof, Immunity Abilities
Iron Crown	Iron Crown	Tinted Lens, Well-Baked Body, Hadron Engine, Psychic Surge, Immunity Abilities
Landorus-I	Landorus	Fluffy, Desolate Land, Primordial Sea, Well-Baked Body
Meowscarada	Meowscarada	Sword of Ruin, Adaptability, Magic Guard
Ogerpon-Wellspring	Ogerpon-Wellspring	Primordial Sea, Sword of Ruin
Sinistcha	Sinistcha	Fluffy, Well-Baked Body, Surge Surfer, Bulletproof
B
Brambleghast	Brambleghast	Sword of Ruin, Adaptability, Fluffy
Cobalion	Cobalion	Magic Guard, Well-Baked Body
Empoleon	Empoleon	Volt Absorb, Levitate, Bulletproof, Vessel of Ruin
Excadrill	Excadrill	Bulletproof, Well-Baked Body
Goodra-Hisui	Goodra-Hisui	Regenerator
Ogerpon-Cornerstone	Ogerpon-Cornerstone	Rocky Payload, Sword of Ruin
Ogerpon-Hearthflame	Ogerpon-Hearthflame	Sword of Ruin, Desolate Land, Magic Guard
Sandy Shocks	Sandy Shocks	Hadron Engine
Thundurus-Therian	Thundurus-Therian	Sheer Force, Surge Surfer, Primordial Sea
Thundurus	Thundurus	Sheer Force, Primordial Sea, Magic Guard
Tinkaton	Tinkaton	Earth Eater, Levitate, Well-Baked Body, Fluffy, Regenerator
Ursaluna-Bloodmoon	Ursaluna-Bloodmoon	Water-Immunity Abilities, Fluffy, Unaware, Adaptability, Immunity Abilities
Zarude	Zarude	Grassy Surge, Tough Claws, Sword of Ruin
B-
Azelf	Azelf	Psychic Surge
Blissey	Blissey	Unaware, Magic Guard
Electrode-Hisui	Electrode-Hisui	Magic Guard, Hadron Engine
Inteleon	Inteleon	Primordial Sea
Iron Boulder	Iron Boulder	Sharpness, Sword of Ruin
Mamoswine	Mamoswine	Technician, Sword of Ruin, Adaptability
Mandibuzz	Mandibuzz	Unaware, Volt Absorb, Magic Guard, Fluffy, Well-Baked Body, Vessel of Ruin
Polteageist	Polteageist	Pixilate, Normalize, Queenly Majesty
Garganacl	Garganacl	Fluffy, Ground-Immunity Abilities, Immunity Abilities
Samurott-Hisui	Samurott-Hisui	Adaptability, Primordial Sea
Slither Wing	Slither Wing	Sword of Ruin, Tinted Lens, Magic Guard
Smeargle	Smeargle	Prankster
Zoroark-Hisui	Zoroark-Hisui	Sheer Force, Magic Guard
C Rank
C
Archaludon	Archaludon	Primordial Sea
Barraskewda	Barraskewda	Primordial Sea
Chansey	Chansey	Unaware, Magic Guard
Chesnaught	Chesnaught	Fluffy, Well-Baked Body, Flame Body
Cresselia	Cresselia	Unaware, Stamina
Deoxys-Defense	Deoxys-Defense	Prankster, Intimidate, Unaware
Enamorus-Therian	Enamorus-Therian	Sheer Force, Magic Guard, Immunity Abilities
Entei	Entei	Pixilate, Magic Guard
Fezandipiti	Fezandipiti	Earth Eater, Levitate, Fluffy
Gengar	Gengar	Sheer Force, Normalize, Hadron Engine, Prankster
Hydreigon	Hydreigon	Dragon's Maw, Beads of Ruin
Kommo-o	Kommo-o	Galvanize, Refrigerate, Regenerator, Fluffy
Meloetta	Meloetta	Regenerator
Mew	Mew	Regenerator, Prankster, Magic Guard
Moltres-Galar	Moltres-Galar	Sheer Force
Quaquaval	Quaquaval	Magic Guard, Fluffy, Intimidate, Primordial Sea
Regieleki	Regieleki	Refrigerate, Pixilate
Ribombee	Ribombee	Prankster
Talonflame	Talonflame	Magic Guard
Volcanion	Volcanion	Primordial Sea, Desolate Land, Magic Guard
Weezing-Galar	Weezing-Galar	Levitate, Earth Eater, Fluffy
Zapdos-Galar	Zapdos-Galar	Sword of Ruin, Adaptability, Magic Guard

 

[Ducky]

I'd like to nominate Baxcalibur to mid. It has a great offensive typing and strong priority in ice shard that makes it very nice vs a lot of the meta. I don't have any replays to show, but I climbed to 1400 on the ladder with it and can pretty confidently it deserves to be mid tier.

Baxcalibur @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin / Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Glaive Rush
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake

I've found Choice Band to be better, but a Boots set with SD over EQ is also pretty solid.

 

[Giagantic]

I'd like to suggest moving up Iron Valiant to High.

With a simple set such as this:

Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball / Knock Off
- Close Combat

This Pokemon is able to tear into teams from both spectrums making defensive counterplay difficult at best. The chief example, one which I am sure many familiar with AAA currently have experienced is that of Corviknight vs Iron Valiant, or more specifically how Iron Valiant totally wrecks one of the most common defensive pivots / defoggers available, regardless of set.

Oh it is Ice Scales Corviknight get 2-3hko'd, 4 Atk Life Orb Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 203-239 (50.7 - 59.7%) -- 84% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Oh it is Fur Coat Corviknight get 1-2hko'd, 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 356-421 (89 - 105.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

Despite not being the fastest threat, Iron Valiant ain't slow, it faces competition from faster special attackers like Flutter Mane but is able to break past defensive counterplay that would stymie common Flutter Mane sets. This attribute can't be understated and this is ignoring the various other sets it can run from Scarf Trick to other potentially unexplored sets. Point is, Iron Valiant is a monster of a pokemon, it's limits haven't been fully explored and it is already so potent that I am hard-pressed to find good counterplay to it outside of prediction or simply not allowing it the opportunity which, in my opinion doesn't fit it's place in Middle viability.



(Woops I did it again Edit: Accidentally didn't input right calcs as pointed out by Astralydia below)

 

[fififlutters]

I'd like to suggest moving up Iron Valiant to High.

With a simple set such as this:

Iron Valiant @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball / Knock Off
- Close Combat

This Pokemon is able to tear into teams from both spectrums making defensive counterplay difficult at best. The chief example, one which I am sure many familiar with AAA currently have experienced is that of Corviknight vs Iron Valiant, or more specifically how Iron Valiant totally wrecks one of the most common defensive pivots / defoggers available, regardless of set.

Oh it is Ice Scales Corviknight get 2hko'd, 0 Atk Life Orb Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 200-238 (59.3 - 70.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO.

Oh it is Fur Coat Corviknight get 1hko'd, 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Corviknight: 359-424 (106.5 - 125.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Despite not being the fastest threat, Iron Valiant ain't slow, it faces competition from faster special attackers like Flutter Mane but is able to break past defensive counterplay that would stymie common Flutter Mane sets. This attribute can't be understated and this is ignoring the various other sets it can run from Scarf Trick to other potentially unexplored sets. Point is, Iron Valiant is a monster of a pokemon, it's limits haven't been fully explored and it is already so potent that I am hard-pressed to find good counterplay to it outside of prediction or simply not allowing it the opportunity which, in my opinion doesn't fit it's place in Middle viability.

The benchmarks are lacking HP investment - whilst not too important, this actually makes Corviknight a bit more of a reliable pivot. In the case of Ice Scales, you'll need to predict correctly, and in the case of Fur Coat, Thunderbolt isn't an automatic OHKO, meaning that in pinch situations, Corviknight can at least attempt to check Valiant if the game depends on it. However, this isn't an argument against the nom - just an observation.
4 Atk Life Orb Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Corviknight: 203-239 (50.7 - 59.7%) -- 84% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Corviknight: 356-421 (89 - 105.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO

 

[Giagantic]

Okay folks, next nom to move up is one I think few will disagree with and is a Pokemon that runs a wide number of abilities to fit the team it is on and that Pokemon is none other then Gholdengo! It is in my opinion a top tier Pokemon in AAA and should be grouped up with the titans of the meta!

The reason? Simple, it can effectively fit into most teams and run a wide range of abilities such that when facing one you never actually know what it is running till it is too late. Every single match with a Gholdengo is one in which you are never sure if you are up against one that is immune to ground (Earth Eater), immune to fire (Well-Baked Body), extremely physically bulky (Fur Coat), or running more niche abilities such as Bulletproof to stop incoming threats from checking it. It can run tanky sets, choiced sets with trick, bulky offensive sets, sub based sets, and performs these roles to similar degrees of effectiveness.

Gholdengo is a pokemon that basically has everything it really needs to perform, it's dual stabs are resisted by a scant few Pokemon, and give it a great number of resists and immunities. It's movepool contains everything it needs similarly to it's typing having access to the unique steel move Make It Rain! on top of Shadow Ball, Recover, Substitute, Trick, Nasty Plot, and so forth... It is one of the few pokemon that can actually run it's regular ability and get away with it in AAA... this in of itself says a lot about how powerful and effective it is in it's role as a bulky steel/ghost.

It can also check or counter a number of the top rated pokemon simply by running a variety of sets for example, it can run Well-Baked Body and counter Iron Moth, Substitute sets can setup in front of Garganacl for free, Dragonite is forced to EQ but can backfire when facing Fur Coat or ground immune abilities, heck... whilst the following isn't something you should necessarily run Gholdengo could easily counter non-mold breaker variants of Iron Bundle with any sort of water immunity. It is a Pokemon that can easily punish the most common pivot and defogger, Corviknight, it can scare off every single variant of the steely bird but Power Trip sets which take too long to setup to effectively handle Gholdengo before it sets up itself and breaks through Ice Scales. The list of what it can run is vast and it is this fact that elevates it far above other Pokemon in my opinion. Facing one forces you into guessing what it is running or testing out the waters, this allows a Gholdengo player to easily bluff abilities such as Well-Baked Body or Earth Eater lest the opponent wants to risk a pokemon or give way to a easy setup moment.

TLDR: Gholdengo is a bundle of potential abilities with great firepower and greater typing and should not be lumped in the Middle of the VR but firmly placed at the top.

 

[LordBox]

Supporting both the Gholdnego and Iron Valiant promotions, Gholdnego is just immensely useful and versatile with all its set whether RegenScarf, Bulky FC/Type Immunity or other stuff like Specs or such while Iron Valiant is just a really good mixed Wallbreaker that can actually break through the dominant FurScale cores that are everywhere.

Also, Avalugg should probably belong in low. Without Tera, the Tables typing really holds it back a lot. In terms of physical threats that can break through, mixed Pult/DNite/Iron Valiant, OPulse/Adapt Slitherwing, Cereludge, Offensive Tusk, BDrum Iron Hands and even Kingambit all have the capability to break Avalugg without that much trouble and so fails to find much appeal on a lot of teams that can't really find much space to find defensive answers to all of them and has meh utility overall with no pivot. Still can be worth considering as it can still wall mons that it doesn't have a poor type matchup like non-mixed DNite and Baxculibur but in most cases, at least on balance, I find FC Hippowdown as a fat sponge to be a lot better as its type doesn't suck as much and can handle generally more or even Iron Hands for the typing + pivot. Definitely also seen a lot less Tables on ladder as well, which is probably indicative of others realizing the same.

Also nominating Fur Coat Slitherwing, Stakeout CB Tusk and Stakeout Iron Valiant to be put on the VR, although I'm really just coping because I'm the only one using either Stakeout mons, but they are genuinely good options I swear. Fur Coat Slitherwing is just a cool defensive options for its ability to pivot + wisp which is enough to sell it for me but its typing also allows it to check offensive Tusk, Kingambit and BDrum Iron Hands nicely (also beats Meowscarada very well, I guess). It does admittedly struggle with stuff like Cereludge and DNite but the list isn't so long I can't put in teammates to handle them (Dazzling Flutter can lure both for players who don't scout first) with the utility that it brings, mainly just pivot because pivot is annoying to find on defensive mons these days while still being as useful as ever. Nvm I just got trolled since FC just isn't on the VR ranking but it is on SmogDex (add it to VR though).

Stakeout Tusk is a good alternative to MBreaker (I swear), it poses a similar ability to rip and shred fat or more passive teams that let it keep coming in while having an improved performance against mons that aren't FurCoat, Stakeout allowing it to do things like OHKO'ing defensive RegenTusk and spamming Knock in fear of immunities also becomes a lot better to do (doing like 80-90 to IceScales Corv). Does perform less reliably against fat FurCoat mons but with good play they can be chipped into 2HKO range, Tusk still doing 70-80 to FC Hippowdown on the switch + next attack. Heavily prediction reliant though with both STABs having common immunities so you better start praying whenever you click an attack.

Stakeout Iron Valiant I've admittedly tested less than either, but I've found it pretty cool (and if FC Flutter and IceScales Chomp can go on the viability rankings, which I've never seen on ladder once, why not this). Main advantage of this set is really capitalizing on forced switches and unlike Tusk not struggling to break FurScales. Wrecking basically anything coming in (if you can get the predict right*), even dedicated checks to Valiant like physically defensive IceScales Florges or specially defensive Scream Tail can be put into 2HKO range with some little chip and can straight up OHKO Corviknight on the switch which people still do fairly often, meaning the Corv can't escape and live another day. Life Orb recoil is annoying though and is heavily prediction reliant but this can be solved with just getting good™. It can also struggle a bit on getting in position to force some things out, although I've paired it with things like offensive SlitherWing to pivot it on FurCoat mons which usually switch out.

 

[UT]

I'd like to nominate Baxcalibur to mid.

Did!

I'd like to suggest moving up Iron Valiant to High.

Did!

Palo needs a sample set!

Added!

Okay folks, next nom to move up is one I think few will disagree with and is a Pokemon that runs a wide number of abilities to fit the team it is on and that Pokemon is none other then Gholdengo!

Yeah wth was that in mid? Did!

Also, Avalugg should probably belong in low.

Did!

Also nominating Fur Coat Slitherwing, Stakeout CB Tusk and Stakeout Iron Valiant to be put on the VR

Did!

Poltea set

Yeah we can add the matchup Teapot, did!

Thanks for all the great suggestions, and if you have more, keep them coming!

 

[Timm168]

Dondozo with prankster rest-talk, liquidation, curse should be in low

 

[LordBox]

Dondozo with prankster rest-talk, liquidation, curse should be in low

I can get behind Dondozo being in low, although Prankster doesn't seem like that good an ability to put on that, do you really need to move faster than your opponents at all as Dondozo? If you wanna go for a bulky wincon you could always slap IceScales on that set or even FurCoat or smth. Or just use it as a bulky wall with Regen but idk I haven't tested it all.

 

[Timm168]

I'd also like to argue that Iron Bundle is at best mid viability.

What makes it broken in OU is its speed+unresisted stab combination making nothing but Blissey a true switch-in. However, the prevalence of ice scales means it gets walled extremely easily by the likes of spdef corviknight or Florges unless it's specs primordial sea (as for florges it walls regardless). Functionally we have so many options for general special walls that it falls flat in too many games.

It also gets walled by the desolate land fire types (volc and iron moth) who also prevent flip turn and shifts momentum heavily. All this alongside poor defensive typing and stats make it no where near as strong as the top threats.

It's speed and access to flip turn mean its offensive sets will always be good and some interesting defensive sets (snow-warning aurora) can be scary but it's misplaced in top tier imo.

I can get behind Dondozo being in low, although Prankster doesn't seem like that good an ability to put on that, do you really need to move faster than your opponents at all as Dondozo? If you wanna go for a bulky wincon you could always slap IceScales on that set or even FurCoat or smth. Or just use it as a bulky wall with Regen but idk I haven't tested it all.

I had some success with prankster at a high-ish rank I think running spdef and being able to instantly boost defence before you get hit is a big deal. Plus being able to heal before getting hit also makes a big difference. Then being able to attack or boost with priority using sleep talk (although unreliable) can and does win games. Ice scales I could see working for sure I just think the opportunity cost is too high to give up corv, florges, garg or something else with that ability and the same goes with regen. It doesn't do much when it switches in each time (it seems like more of a wincon pokemon) so I think regen wouldn't be too good but maybe it could work.

 

[LordBox]

I'd also like to argue that Iron Bundle is at best mid viability.

What makes it broken in OU is its speed+unresisted stab combination making nothing but Blissey a true switch-in. However, the prevalence of ice scales means it gets walled extremely easily by the likes of spdef corviknight or Florges unless it's specs primordial sea (as for florges it walls regardless). Functionally we have so many options for general special walls that it falls flat in too many games.

It also gets walled by the desolate land fire types (volc and iron moth) who also prevent flip turn and shifts momentum heavily. All this alongside poor defensive typing and stats make it no where near as strong as the top threats.

It's speed and access to flip turn mean its offensive sets will always be good and some interesting defensive sets (snow-warning aurora) can be scary but it's misplaced in top tier imo.

Specs Primordial Sea Bundle is the most common set and it can very easily put Corviknight in range with good play with Flip Turn doing 20% ish while Pump can do 40%. It can still apply quite the bit of pressure of teams and despite DesoVolc/Moth it has U-Turn to keep up the momentum against them. I think the fact so many teams have specific counterplay just for Bundle and is always kept in mind when keeping special threats in mind is enough to show why it's high, it can still be immensely threatening with its power and its speed is still great only being outsped by Scarfers and Pult, IceScales Corv isn't hard to be chipped into 2HKO range with good play and even mons that essentially always wall it can still be exploited for momentum with U-Turn/Flip Turn. I'd also like the mention the funniest Galvanise Banded Giga Impact Bundle that OHKO's Corv and Iron Moth on the switch which Aesf made because its just hilarious.

Also while I'm here nominating Fur Coat as a viable ability for Volcarona. I've talked about it before and after a bit more testing it still is rather cool on HO anyway, which is the only place I've tested it on and where the opportunity cost of using FC on Volc and SR weakness don't come into play much and can pair up with other offensive monsters to overwhelm annoying special walls like Clodsire. Also why are there two Polteageists on the VR ranking?

FC Volc Set

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz / Will-O-Wisp / Giga Drain / Psychic
- Fiery Dance
- Morning Sun

 

[cat]

id like to nominate well-baked body gholdengho as a set on the vr

Gholdengo wbb

Hide

Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Recover

heres a analysis if u want one (seperate from the defensive nasty plot)
Defensive Moth Check (lol)

Hide

Gholdengo's reliable recovery in Recover, ability to setup and hit hard with Nasty Plot, Shadow Ball and Make It Rain, and lastly excellent typing granting it many resists and few weaknesses. Its typing allows it, with a fire immunity ability, to check Iron Moth and Volcarona very well, as well as checking Iron Valiant, Noivern, Scream Tail and Slither Wing naturally. With Well-Baked Body, it is only weak to Ground, Ghost and Dark. With the most common ghost types being Flutter Mane and Dragapult, a good Ice Scales user like Garganacl or Corviknight can be a good partner for Gholdengo. However, Corviknight needs to be careful for Hadron Engine variants. Corviknight doubles as a partner by being able to eat the ground type moves that may plague Gholdengo. Its dark weakness is also accounted for in the fact that there aren't alot of dark types, with mainly Chi-Yu and Kingambit. Chi-Yu can get revenge killed by Aerilate Dragonite, which can be another partner for Gholdengo as it is also immune to ground types. Kingambit can be reliably check but a common Fur Coat User Iron Hands.

 

[LordBox]

id like to nominate well-baked body gholdengho as a set on the vr

Gholdengo wbb

Hide

Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Recover

heres a analysis if u want one (seperate from the defensive nasty plot)
Defensive Moth Check (lol)

Hide

Gholdengo's reliable recovery in Recover, ability to setup and hit hard with Nasty Plot, Shadow Ball and Make It Rain, and lastly excellent typing granting it many resists and few weaknesses. Its typing allows it, with a fire immunity ability, to check Iron Moth and Volcarona very well, as well as checking Iron Valiant, Noivern, Scream Tail and Slither Wing naturally. With Well-Baked Body, it is only weak to Ground, Ghost and Dark. With the most common ghost types being Flutter Mane and Dragapult, a good Ice Scales user like Garganacl or Corviknight can be a good partner for Gholdengo. However, Corviknight needs to be careful for Hadron Engine variants. Corviknight doubles as a partner by being able to eat the ground type moves that may plague Gholdengo. Its dark weakness is also accounted for in the fact that there aren't alot of dark types, with mainly Chi-Yu and Kingambit. Chi-Yu can get revenge killed by Aerilate Dragonite, which can be another partner for Gholdengo as it is also immune to ground types. Kingambit can be reliably check but a common Fur Coat User Iron Hands.

I think you're already aware but WBB is already included with Defensive NP set on Smogdex and so already has a set (although isn't on the VR, for some reason) and I don't believe there's enough to distinguish WBB Gholdengo from the other sets to warrant it's own analysis and set as it functions similarly enough outside the defensive aspect (and would warrant another analysis for Earth Eater). On the set itself, Substitute should also be in there.

 

[Adelynn]

​

Polteageist	Queenly Majesty
Glimmora	Earth Eater, Ice Scales, Toxic Debris
Kilowattrel	Primordial Sea
Polteageist	Queenly Majesty

I'm sorry for the one liner but I think you put Polteageist twice on the VL by accident.

 

[Ducky]

Noticed that a few High viability mons are missing a few sets so I thought I'd make a quick post

Dragapult @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 225 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- U-turn

Standard MGLO Pult that is everywhere now. Wisp is super annoying for a lot of mons and has obvious synergy with Hex


Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Recover
- Shadow Ball
- Substitute

WBB Ghold is super annoying and takes advantage of everyone running Iron Moth / Volcarona to deal with Iron Bundle. The speed EVs creep 0 Speed Great Tusk

Gholdengo @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 192 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Steel Beam

I admittedly don't have as much experience with MGLO Ghold but it is a strong attacker and can get surprise kills on things like Great Tusk who assume they can live and Shadow Ball and either Knock or EQ

Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
- Recover
- Substitute

FC Ghold is also quite common and does a great job with things like Slither Wing and gets a ton of set up opportunities thanks to it's great bulk with FC.


Iron Valiant @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf
Ability: Stakeout
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Moonblast
- Thunderbolt
- Knock Off

I don't really know what else to say other than the fact that this thing is almost impossible to consistently wall due to its great coverage and the nature of Stakeout. Also smaller thing but why is Sword of Ruin bolded but not Stakeout? I've never seen Sword of Ruin Valiant

 

[LordBox]

Here to suggest some abilities that should be on the VR that aren't.

Chi-Yu should have Mold Breaker as a viable set in the VR. As for why, I already explained in my post before so I won't go indepth here. Scary as fuck as a breaker when you get it in the right position and can blow up things it usually couldn't like Clodsire and WBB if choice-locked so definitely worth ranking. As an extra note, I saw an MBreaker Moth on ladder just a bit before and that thing is actually kinda scary as well, although I haven't tested it.

These are a bit more of a stretch but I believe Scales and Bulletproof should belong on the VR for Gholdengos, WBB for Kingambit and Fur Coat on Polteageists and Volcarona. These are a bit niche but I've used and seen on multiple occasions to good effect. Scales and Bulletproof can troll things like Dragapult and opposing Gholdengo even Cinderace as well as other special revenge killers like Bundle if Scales as so have their unique usage. Set can be the same as defensive NP set but might prefer SpD EVs for both. WBB on Kingambit can let it handle most Fire-types, although can get owned by HJK or CC from Ace and Ceruledge respectively if they choose to use it but hey it uniquely handles Chi-Yu compared to WBB Ghold (excluding MBreaker). FC on both Volc and Polt sound like memes but can be scary asf as they boost the other side and become unkillable as well as offensively check things that could blow them up.

Sets

Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Well-Baked Body
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD (Might want more defensive EVs)
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head / Stealth Rock / Protect
- Kowtow Cleave
- Sucker Punch

Chi-Yu @ Choice Specs / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Dark Pulse
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower
- Will-O-Wisp / Nasty Plot
- Psychic

Polteageist @ Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Strength Sap
- Stored Power / Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Ball

Volcarona @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Fur Coat
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Quiver Dance
- Fiery Dance
- Morning Sun
- Bug Buzz / Giga Drain / Psychic / Will-O-Wisp

 

[Klod Praisor]

For skeledirge, I think purifying salt might be an alternative option, since it neutralizes croc's ghost weakness while still retaining some of the benefits of good as gold such as immunity to statuses (even prevent hax/*the poisoning from* toxic spikes), and a weakness policy+shadow ball + torch song + will-o/flame charge + slack off set can bait and punish dengo/dragapult/knock off users/*many* variants of corvi pretty hard. *It has some drawbacks, such as being a less effective hazard removal blocker due to losing immunity to defog, but I find this variant works decently.*

*Skeledirge @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 112 Spe
Modest Nature
- Torch Song
- Slack Off
- Flame Charge
- Shadow Ball
I am currently running an Offensive set, after 1 flame charge will outspeed non-scarf dengo variants. The spread can probably be more optimized but this seems serviceable at the moment. *

Edits are marked with *

 

[Isaiah]

Mini VR!
(LAST UTD: January 14th, 2023)​

Hi, pending a more stable metagame, here's a mini VR that only goes to A- to give a general idea of at least where the top end of the meta stands right now. Expect a more extensive update after the FurScales suspect + w/e tiering action follows (if any), but for now, have this a resource :]

*Bold = Most popular/viable

Quadruple Ubers

Corviknight	Ice Scales, Well-Baked, Fur Coat, Fluffy, Unaware, Intimidate
Dragapult	Magic Guard, Sheer Force, Hadron Engine
Gholdengo	Almost Any Ability: Well-Baked Body, Earth Eater, Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Water Absorb, Magic Guard, Bulletproof, Good as Gold, Levitate, Mold Breaker, Pressure
Great Tusk	Regenerator, Mold Breaker, Fur Coat, Tough Claws

A Rank
A+

Clodsire	Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Toxic Debris, Prankster
Florges	Ice Scales, Fur Coat
Garganacl	Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Good as Gold
Iron Bundle	Primordial Sea, Adaptability, Tinted Lens, Magic Guard
Iron Hands	Regenerator, Triage, Fur Coat, Ice Scales, Earth Eater, Well-Baked Body
Iron Moth	Desolate Land, Opportunist
Iron Valiant	Sheer Force, Sword of Ruin, Magic Guard
Volcarona	Fur Coat, Desolate Land

A

Baxcalibur	Mold Breaker, Sword of Ruin, Technician
Cinderace	Orichalcum Pulse, Magic Guard, Desolate Land
Chi-Yu	Mold Breaker, Desolate Land, Sheer Force
Dragonite	Aerilate
Garchomp	Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales
Iron Treads	Regenerator, Well-Baked Body, Earth Eater
Kingambit	Well-Baked Body, Adaptability, Regenerator, Earth Eater
Scream Tail	Regenerator, Fur Coat, Ice Scales
Skeledirge	Good as Gold, Desolate Land, Fur Coat
Ting-Lu	Regenerator, Ice Scales

A-

Hippowdon	Fur Coat
Noivern	Aerilate
Roaring Moon	Regenerator, Sword of Ruin
Slither Wing	Tinted Lens, Orichalcum Pulse, Regenerator

E: I suppose you COULD do VR noms for this if you really want to...

 

[Iynhe]

TL;DR
Sheer Force for Roaring Moon and Iron Moth.
Tough Claws for Great Tusk.
Trace for Gholdengo.

Let me nominate two abilities on two mons.

Great Tusk @ Choice Band
Ability: Tough Claws
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- Knock Off

Tough Claws on Great Tusk is better than Adaptability rn, imho.
Literally everyone has both a ghost and a flying type in their teams, making its STABs not as spammable as Terrakion's last gen. Sadly. GT is also slower, which makes for a bad and sad Terrakion impression.
But since everyhing likes to switch in anyway, Ice Spinner and Knock Off still do a lot of damage.

Gholdengo @ Leftovers
Ability: Trace
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Recover
- Substitute

I put kind of random EVs on this.
Trace is where the heat is. Why? It already has 14 different viable abilities to choose from. At least now you can also have fun while playing it.

EDIT: ALMOST FORGOT

Roaring Moon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Rush
- Crunch
- Iron Head

The first real physical SFLO user we've ever had. You DD once, you click funny moves, you miss because the opposing pokemon does not take damange from Crunch and Iron Head (only from Dragon Rush) and you dream of what it could have been.
When it hits, it HITS.

Iron Moth @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Sludge Wave
- Energy Ball // Discharge
- Agility

This is modest because I thought "heh, I'm going to click Agility every time anyway." Wrong, but it HURTS. I think I did 60% to IS Corviknight. I should check.
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Iron Moth Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Corviknight: 282-333 (70.5 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Oh wait, it was more.

Discharge can be used but it hurts less. At least you have another way to hit flying mons I guess, I really don't remember why I sometimes played it over a Grass move.

 

[Isaiah]

VR UPDATE!​

> If anything looks off, please notify someone on council so we can get it fixed :P
> As usual, any noms or questions about certain rankings can be posted below :]

Viability Rankings + Sample Sets (and Analyses)
(current as of February 08, 2023)​

* Only up to the top three most relevant abilities for each Pokemon are listed, in alphabetical order. If you're wondering about the viability of any ability not listed, feel free to ask about it in this thread :]

S Rank
S
Gholdengo	Earth Eater, Magic Guard, Well-Baked Body
Great Tusk	Regenerator, Scrappy
A Rank
A+
Corviknight	Intimidate, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body
Dragonite	Aerilate
Garganacl	Earth Eater, Good as Gold, Sand Stream
A
Baxcalibur	Sword of Ruin, Technician
Cinderace	Magic Guard, Orichalcum Pulse
Iron Moth	Desolate Land, Sheer Force
Kingambit	Adaptability, Earth Eater, Well-Baked Body
Noivern	Aerilate
Roaring Moon	Regenerator, Sword of Ruin
A-
Ceruledge	Desolate Land, Turboblaze, Orichalcum Pulse
Chien-Pao	Queenly Majesty, Magic Guard, Sword of Ruin
Garchomp	Regenerator
Gengar	Beads of Ruin, Hadron Engine, Sheer Force
Scream Tail	Pixilate,Unaware, Regenerator
Ting-Lu	Regenerator
B Rank
B+
Chi-Yu	Desolate Land, Turboblaze, Sheer Force
Dondozo	Fluffy, Magic Guard
Greninja	Magic Guard, Primordial Sea
Houndstone	Supreme Overlord, Surge Surfer
Meowscarada	Sword of Ruin, Queenly Majesty
Quaquaval	Magic Guard, Primordial Sea
Sandy Shocks	Hadron Engine
Slither Wing	Orichalcum Pulse, Sword of Ruin, Tinted Lens
B
Armarouge	Psychic Surge
Barraskewda	Primordial Sea
Clodsire	Earth Eater, Prankster, Vessel of Ruin
Cyclizar	Regenerator
Iron Treads	Earth Eater, Regenerator, Well-Baked Body
Kilowattrel	Primordial Sea
Skeledirge	Desolate Land, Earth Eater, Good as Gold
Tauros-Paldea-Blaze	Orichalcum Pulse
Tauros-Paldea-Aqua	Primordial Sea
Volcarona	Desolate Land
B-
Florges	Unaware, Vessel of Ruin
Orthworm	Regenerator
Polteageist	Psychic Surge, Queenly Majesty
Rotom-Wash	Hadron Engine, Primordial Sea, Vessel of Ruin
Slowking	Fluffy, Intimidate
C Rank
C+
Gardevoir	Prankster, Tinted Lens
Gyarados	Fluffy
Hippowdon	Fluffy, Intimidate
C
Glimmora	Corrosion, Earth Eater, Sheer Force
C-
Blissey	Good as Gold, Vessel of Ruin
Palossand	Good as Gold, Unaware
Tinkaton	Regenerator, Tinted Lens
Toxapex	Corrosion, Prankster

 

[heavenleyturnip]

VR UPDATE!​

> If anything looks off, please notify someone on council so we can get it fixed :P
> As usual, any noms or questions about certain rankings can be posted below :]

Prankster spidops is very good in its niche, and is on every HO team in low ladder. It should have a place on the viability rankings. B-?

 

[Codename C.A.T]

Initial thoughts:

Ting-Lu: A- to B/B+
This thing is only B+ on a really good day. Takes your regen slot away from Tusk, extremely passive, loses to every hazard removal option we have, I just don’t see why you would use this thing over defensive Tusk aside from the admittedly nice Dark typing.
Hatterene: UR to B
Pretty solid Tricker with Specs and can clean the lategame with Draining Kiss. On hyper offense, you can use it as a priority Healing Wish user for the lategame. I have a feeling that it was probably just forgotten on the spreadsheet.
Toxapex: C- to UR
This Pokémon has never done anything, no matter what team I’ve seen it used on. All the setup threats it’s supposed to check either PP stall it or just kill it. Absolutely awful, too little for even C- imo.

 

[Codename C.A.T]

now that im home i can do a proper nom for the vr

Palafin (Zero to Hero): UR to C+
Palafin provides a genuinely useful niche in SV AAA. Its main boon over other waters is Taunt, allowing it to shut down Corviknight's recovery and chip it down over the course of a game. Taunt also lets it block hazards from Ting-Lu or Garchomp, and makes it much more difficult to switch into with something like a Hatterene or a Dondozo. Its Flip Turn is also quite strong despite low base power, and it can act as an offensive-defensive check to Great Tusk and even Kingambit if you decide to use Drain Punch(which you should, it's great). The last slot is up for debate, but I think Jet Punch or Ice Punch are the best options for the big smacks against Banded Tusk and Dragonite respectively.

 

[Yunie]

Quick thoughts:

Unpopular opinion but this thing SUCKS. The inherently linearity of using Houndstone + the fact that it only really works in 2vX or 1vX scenarios means it needs tons of support to get past its checks, unlike other B+ mons like Meow and Greninja that are solid in their own right, and it ends up being easy to plan for in builder and in game. Supreme Overlord sets have ended up being too slow or too weak in my experience, while Surge Surfer sets mandate one of the 3 viable Hadron users for a set that may not even get 3 turns to break. I've found Houndstone to be an inconsistent wincon at best, and would like to see it drop to like B- or something.

Slash Unaware, with its great physical bulk + Curse it can blanket wall pretty much every physical setup sweeper and is much more useful than Fluffy into mons like Dragonite, where Quake just doesn't care.

+1ing this, was using Band with Drizzle support before the Iron Bundle ban and it did serviceably, so with DesoLand no longer being spammed it should do much better. BU sets sound cool but you beat everything with Toxic with a +1 Wave Crash anyway (no one is using WA Clod and Toxapex might as well not exist), so I would suggest sticking with Banded sets.

UR to C-, unblockable Spin + outspeeding defensive Tusk and being the only long-term spinblocker in the tier is HUGE for defensive teams. Sap having 16 PP makes it a lot harder to stall out, it sits in front of the Regen Grounds for days, and it even gets Spikes for that extra role compression. It's not amazing but let it join its stall brethren in C-.

 

[LordBox]

Wait, the VR has already been updated?

Supporting the demotion of both, although Houndstone is sketch. Ting-Lu I just really dislike with how ultra-passive it can feel with no pivot or other ways to really do anything but stack hazards and its typing isn't all that great against the meta with the offensive mons roaming around (Gren, Meowscarada, Tusk, OPulse, SlitherWing, etc*). Houndstone I still believe can be a superbly powerful cleaner but it only really belongs on HO team as otherwise you're effectively playing 5-6.

B- to B
Can't believe you'd disrespect my homeboy like this. Doesn't deserve to be in a tier with mons that I've literally never seen before and a HO-specific mon. On why actually, its Hadron Engine sets are actually pretty cool and are, imo, nearly or on-par with Sandy Shocks. Granted it has less speed and power by a fair margin, but Water STAB to more efficiently blow up Grounds like Ting-Lu and Nasty Plot are fairly big boons, along with neat options in Trick and Wisp Sandy Shocks doesn't have. If you won't put it at the same tier, at least just a tier below it.

B+ to A-
So far, from what I can tell, Greninja is a really cool and versatile (or well, slappable) offensive mon. Specs is a cool option with great power and fairly spammble Water STAB, a good speed tier and U-Turn. Scarf makes Greninja an excellent speed control option and revenge killer, still packing decent power with Beads of Ruin/PSea and still able to spam U-Turn as well both able to pack some more utility with Switcheroo. These alone fit on a wide variety of teams for me but there's also more experimental sets like Mixed which are interesting and can let it blow past some of its usual checks like Iron Moth.

Also where is the RegenVest Roaring Moon set for its SmogDex, probably the best set right now, imo. Kilowattrel (B to B+), Kingambit (A to A-/B+) and Ceruledge (A- to A) I also see as tentative in their positions, although not fully sure if they need to change.