Balanced Hackmons Viability Rankings

[asterat]

Balanced Hackmons Viability Rankings
approved by Arcticblast

Edited Quote From OU:

"Welcome to the official Balanced Hackmons Viability Rankings topic. You should know the drill by now; In this thread, we as a community will rank every single usable Pokemon into "tiers." In this thread, you're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various Pokemon that are usable in OU and what tier they should fall under. It's about time the Balanced Hackmons subforum joined in on the action!

The general idea of the topic is to rank each Balanced Hackmons pokemon under "rankings" that go in descending order. Since this is a general tier list, everything is lumped together. There won't be any segregation between offense & defense threats.

• EX: Garchomp-Mega can be ranked in A tier as an offensive threat, Venusaur-Mega can be ranked under A as supportive threat and Skarmory can be can also be ranked in C+ tier as a defensive threat. These are just examples."

Because this is balanced hackmons- the tier of endless possibilities, we are going to have another concept implemented which makes this also a threatlist. After each pokemon's name you will see bulleted abilities that the pokemon uses effectively. With so many possibilities for each pokemon we hope with will aid new players in knowing what a pokemon will physically do. We could have also listed moves but that is much harder to predict than abilities. For example Scizor-Mega pretty much always has flash fire, but the only move you can know for sure it has a recovery option and *maybe* entrainment/worry seed/simple beam. There is no way to know for sure or even know what to expedct like there is for abilities.

S Rank: Pokemon that have shaped the metagame in significant ways. If these pokemon did not exist, the metagame would be vastly different.

Hide

Chansey

• Imposter

Kyurem-B

• Refrigerate

Xerneas

• Poison Heal
• Pixilate
• Prankster
• Magic Guard
• Unaware

A Rank: Metagame defining threats that every team needs to be prepared for. A large weakness to one of these pokemon when the opponent packs it will generally lead directly to loss.

Hide

A+:

Aegislash-Shield

• Flash Fire
• Prankster
• Magic Bounce

Gengar-Mega

• Mold Breaker
• Lightningrod

Giratina

• Poison Heal
• Magic Bounce
• Mold Breaker
• Simple
• Fur Coat

Kyogre

• Poison Heal
• Regenerator
• Prankster

Mewtwo-Mega-X

• Poison Heal
• Contrary
• Protean
• No Guard
• Tinted Lens

Shedinja

• Sturdy

Tyranitar-Mega

• Poison Heal
• Sand Stream
• Magic Guard

A:

Garchomp-Mega

• Poison Heal
• Technician

Gyarados-Mega

• Poison Heal

Mewtwo-Mega-Y

• Protean
• Mold Breaker
• No Guard
• Poison Heal
• Contrary

Regigigas

• Poison Heal

Slaking

• Poison Heal

Venusaur-Mega

• Prankster
• Magic Bounce

Yveltal

• Poison Heal

B Rank: Consistent performers that are good choices for most teams, but are easily checked or can have a hard time walling what they need to, meaning they often need a lot of support to be effective.

Hide

B+:

Aggron-Mega

• Magic Bounce

Arceus

• Magic Bounce
• Unaware

Blissey

• Imposter

Groudon

• Poison Heal
• Prankster
• Soundproof

Kyurem-W

• Refrigerate

Scizor-Mega

• Flash Fire

B:

Aerodactyl-Mega

• Magic Guard

Arceus-Ghost

• Multitype

Blaziken-Mega

• Contrary

Charizard-Mega-Y

• Poison Heal

Cresselia

• Unaware
• Poison Heal
• Magic Bounce
• Prankster

Darmanitan-Z

• Regenerator

Ho-Oh

• Magic Guard
• Regenerator

Palkia

• Drizzle
• Adaptability
• Mega Launcher

Rayquaza

• Aerilate
• Magic Guard

Registeel

• Magic Bounce

Reshiram

• Contrary
• Drought
• Adaptability

C Rank: Niche pokemon and pokemon that require a lot of support to work well. This is the place for gimmicks and pokemon Keep it Playful uses.

Hide

C+:

Arceus-Rock

• Multitype

Diancie

• Sand Stream
• Poison Heal
• Magic Bounce

Ferrothorn

• Flash Fire

Gardevoir-Mega

• Pixilate

Giratina-O

• Mold Breaker

Heatran

• Magic Bounce
• Pixilate
• Prankster

Landorus-T

• Aerilate

Latias-Mega

• Poison Heal

Latios

• Protean
• Regenerator

Latios-Mega

• Poison Heal

Skarmory

• Magic Bounce

Volcanion

• Regenerator
• Poison Heal

C:

Deoxys-S

• Mold Breaker

Gengar

• Mold Breaker

Hoopa

• Prankster

Houndoom

• Drought

Rules

• Post intelligently. Posts like "I think pokemon X should be in this tier" will not be tolerated
• No flaming
• Usage statistics may be used to support an argument or a claim, but don't base your ENTIRE argument around them. For example, you can't just say "Pokemon X shouldn't be this tier because they aren't used that often!"
• No talk about BH UU
• If you post a new ability for a mon, provide at least one sample set.

 

[Arhops]

Looking pretty good! :]

I do think you should slash Mold Breaker with Teravolt and stuff since we have ability clause now though.

 

[Monte Cristo]

Hey Asterat, good job and stuff. Anyways Diancie, Volcanion and Hoopa should have XY sprites so if you can't find them, check on serebii.

Aside from that, Blaziken-Mega needs to be a lot higher, the adaptabillity set easily shoots it into A- speaking of adaptabillity, it's one of it's potent sets posted a while back in the main BH thread, so yeah.

Mega Garchomp is one of the best users, and heck, pretty much the standalone best user of Thousand Arrows and Thousand Waves, so that alone can easily shoot him into A+ as it can easily remove pesky steels and be a huge help to any team with minimal specific support needed.

Anyways, Aegislash isn't A+ material and should be B+/A anymore while it can easily take on Thousand Arrows-less Kyurem-B and Xerneas, it has a huge problem in todays metagame with all the Thousand Moves and random Knock Off spam, not to mention it straight up loses to Mega Gengar and everything with taunt or magic bounce as it relies on it's status moves to do anything to the foe at all. I suggest Mega Scizor to take it's place as it does pretty much everything it does but like 20% better. and lacks the Thousand move/Knock Off weakness.

 

[Uselesscrab]

A few things I would definitely add:

Gengar-Mega with Normalize (I know most of these sets are bad, but Flint's entrainment one is quite good)
Venusaur-Mega with Magic Bounce (a very good set of Adrian Marin's)
Yveltal with Unaware (if Xerneas can run it, so can Yveltal)
Darmanitan-Z with Fur Coat (another Adrian set, I think)
Deoxys-S with Klutz (extremely fun, and somewhat practically useful)
Landorus-T with Poison Heal (why isn't this on there???)

A few things I would maybe add:

Ampharos-Mega of some kind (Ranger Mike)
Technician on MMX. Laugh all you want, but it's a good set, for the sheer power combined with surprise factor (Kit Kasai and Piccolo Daimao)
Shaymin-Sky of some kind
Banette-Mega of some kind
Flash Fire Togekiss (This is the place for gimmicks and pokemon Keep it Playful uses.)

wow i tagged a lot of people

 

[Ranger Mike]

I'd add illusion to gengle normal because it fucks with a lot of mind if you disguise it as slaking or something then they send in a wall say Giratina then you can trap it since it can't do anything to you although you don't want to run shadow ball use leech seed, freeze dry, or something

 

[Keep it Playful]

Togekiss, Whimsicott (both FF) and Drifblim (Soundproof) for C rank :P

Nice list Asterat. ^_^

 

[Rumors]

I'm surprised this went up despite a lot of people disagreeing what went where in a lot of instances.

I'll let people argue over tiers, but some lesser seen but still notable and dangerous threats include...

Escalvalier, either Prankster or Flashfire (Gyro Ball/Spore/Recover/Copycat or support/coverage depending on ability) with Safety Goggles.

Skymin, with perhaps the Quick Feet set (Oblivion Wing/Ice Beam/Tail Glow/Earth Power) with a Flame Orb

Ampharos-Mega, whether it be Mike's set or the Trick Room sweeper I used in the tourny, which is Refrige (Thunder/Boomburst/Trick Room/Recover) holding a Wide Lens.

Manectric-Mega, Refrigerate (Thunder or Thunderbolt/Boomburst/Tail Glow/Taunt or Substitute) holding an item of the user's choice.

Zekrom, running Refrigerate sets similar to Kyu-Bs but trading STAB on the Ice attacks for STAB on Bolt Strike.

Another Xern set: Sheer Force (Moon Blast/Blue Flare/Thunderbolt, Earth Power, Ice Beam, or other coverage/Recover or other coverage) with a Life Orb.

Kyurem-B can still run a classic Skill Link set too that can bypass some stuff Refrige can't, like Sub abuse and PP stall (Icicle Spear/Bone Rush/Shift Gear/Magic Coat or Recover or another coverage move like Bullet Seed). It's probably more dangerous this gen than last because of the surprise/bluff factor.

 

[Kit Kasai]

One nitpick here: (just a point of clarification, not criticizing, it's a pretty good list) Why did you change the definitions of the tiering? The OU viability rankings have this tiering system in place:

Hide

S Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame with little support, and Pokemon who can support other Pokemon with very little opportunity cost ("free turns"). Also the home of Pokemon who can easily perform multiple roles effectively, increasing their versatility and unpredictability. If the Pokemon in this rank have any flaws, those flaws are thoroughly mitigated by their substantial strengths.

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. Supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time.

B Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job or are setup bait for dangerous sweepers. Pokemon who are partially outclassed by a Pokemon in A or S Rank, but are otherwise very dangerous, may also fall into this category.

C Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can be effective given the right support, but either have crippling flaws that prevent them from consistently executing their strategy or are typically inferior to Pokemon in the above ranks.

D Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who are simply not very effective in the current metagame.

This pretty much allows them to rank things on their viability as objectively as possible. Your definitions kinda cover that, but make it seem more like a "popularity" or usage ranking rather than a viability ranking.

 

[WoodCarboncle]

I'd say Fur Coat Mega Aggron, while niche, deserves a mention.

 

[Heisenerg]

Just a small thing, was a little surprised that megatwoY with contrary was considered a thing but contrary wasn't listed under latios/mega latios (obviously not great but at the least niche). Also mega latios has been mentioned twice on the first post.

 

[Arhops]

Also mega latios has been mentioned twice on the first post.

Actually it was only mentioned once. Either you didn't see the a and o switch or you thought they had different sprites. (Between Latios and Latias)

Oh and the first post in a thread is called the op.

 

[Heisenerg]

Actually it was only mentioned once. Either you didn't see the a and o switch or you thought they had different sprites. (Between Latios and Latias)

Oh and the first post in a thread is called the op.

My bad, guess I should look over everything more thoroughly. -.- if i could actually read I would have noticed the difference between a and o.

 

[Halliday]

put aerilate under yveltal, as well as gale wings, since stab koff makes more offensive sets viable

 

[Ranger Mike]

put aerilate under yveltal, as well as gale wings, since stab koff makes more offensive sets viable

You want goomy for s rank don't you. In addition to this I'd add ph on landorus t as it can run either coil or shift gear for a ph sweeper set.

 

[Uselesscrab]

You want goomy for s rank don't you. In addition to this I'd add ph on landorus t as it can run either coil or shift gear for a ph sweeper set.

I said that already :P

Anyway, Dialga is mysteriously absent, which is unusual because it can run a variety of sets, both offensive and defensive, including Magic Bounce, Regenerator, Tinted Lens, etc.

 

[Rumors]

I knew I was forgetting something. Yes, AV Regen Dialga is a thing. Not as common as the usual ones, but it has its place on some team. There's also AV Regen Sylveon, who fits the niche a little bit better than AV Regen Xerneas. Though I'd put that one no higher than C since that's the only advantage Sylveon has other anything at all.

(Florges is in a similar spot, but the difference in bulk is about 1% damage from Kyu-W's Boomburst while physically a healthy Sylveon can take a Fake Out + E-Speed from Kyu-B, which Florges can't.)

Bounce Dialga is also functional too from personal experience.

 

[MAMP]

Yo where's Aerilate Zard Y at

 

[Uselesscrab]

Yo where's Aerilate Zard Y at

That's true, we forgot the mystery charizard of Mike's.

• I think Mold Breaker for MMX should be added.
• Also, I'm pretty sure Blaziken-Mega runs other sets, like Mold Breaker and Prankster.
• What's the deal with Mega Launcher Palkia?
• Nothing has Gale Wings listed as an option.
• Please add more of the changes I had in my previous post.

 

[Delibird is Amazing]

call me stupid but why is chansey ranked higher when blissey has more hp?

 

[Rolandark]

call me stupid but why is chansey ranked higher when blissey has more hp?

Because of eviolite

 

[Delibird is Amazing]

Because of eviolite

doesn't eviolite immediately not work when you transform into a fully evolved pokemon? ditto's metal and quick powder work like that, so I would assume eviolite works like that as well.

 

[Rolandark]

doesn't eviolite immediately not work when you transform into a fully evolved pokemon? ditto's metal and quick powder work like that, so I would assume eviolite works like that as well.

nope the effect of eviolite stays. its a broken item

 

[Keep it Playful]

nope the effect of eviolite stays. its a broken item

It's not broken, an eviolite Chansey that Imposters a Pokemon without the move Recover (or equivalent) can be drained of HP with proper tactics. Also Impostering a Poison Heal Pokemon will often result in Chansey getting burned by Sacred Fire if it's a Shift Gear one, or get it's HP whittled down from a Quiver Dance Pokemon. I've found that Toxic Orb Bliss/Chans to be quite effective, and a lot of players are running Lucky Punch on Chansey now because it's so great at breaking through boosts.

Also: How did I not notice that C rank in the OP mentions me until now? xD <3

 

[Enroyalle]

Out of curiosity, is there a reason that regular Houndoom is listed (as opposed to Houndoom-Mega)?
I've been playing BH for a few weeks now and haven't seen a single one of either, so I'm not too sure what they do.

 

[Arhops]

Out of curiosity, is there a reason that regular Houndoom is listed (as opposed to Houndoom-Mega)?
I've been playing BH for a few weeks now and haven't seen a single one of either, so I'm not too sure what they do.

Houndoom has drought and then the houndoom mega evolves and has the sun up and the solar power boost from mega houndoom. Which can kill alot of stuff.