I've played DPP since its inception, and I started playing back again last year. I'm pretty invested in the community, I'll give my opinion since no one asked.
- Self explanatory, broken and in most cases where you're thinking of a 6th member (if you haven't fit it in already) it's an easy glue. Excellent lead, amazing choice user, switches into Latias' Dracos all day, has a versatile moveset but really what puts it over the top is any iteration of Body Slam / Thunder Wave + Iron Head, most of the time its a unfair advantage because you'll get haxed to death and you have to really be smart with ways to prepare for it. I'm hoping it gets banned.
- Outside of Jirachi, is the best Pokemon in the tier, I'm not arguing anything its where it should be but personally I think it's a must in this meta with pursuit trapping as an option, just being a SpD bulky wall, as well as being extremely threatening with Lum + Dragon Dance, really minimizes Latias, Starmie, Rotom-W, and Gengars viability.
- Not arguing anything, but yeah fantastic mon.
- Not arguing anything, but this mon has gotten really good over the last 12 years, essentially has made Blissey not as relevant.
- Yeah, this thing is on the same rank as Skarmory and Clefable. The Scarf lead sets are very reminiscing of scarf Darkrai sets in Ubers. where you just want to outspeed everything not scarfed / Aero and put it to sleep. Quite a brainless set but it works tremendously well. 100% Sleep acc is pretty overpowered combine that with Toxic Orb + Poison Heal it becomes very easy to fit in common sandstorm structures because it essentially acts like Leftovers in sand. Has access to Mach Punch which is great in this meta as well as running a variety of sets which I won't get into such as Leech Seed / Sub, Sub Focus Punch, Superpower Swords Dance, Protect / Seed etc. Spore is what puts it in S tier in my eyes.
- Not arguing anything, very good.
- So good, I think personally it's under utilized but I get it. Really good Jirachi switch-in 90% of the time. Choice Scarf set cleans up some games, I use the Sub-Toxic set sometimes, but also the lead sets including Magma Storm spam works well when it actually hits. Provides fantastic bulk overall. I think the only reason it's not S tier is becomes Tyranitar / Latias is extremely common. Shoutout to the Eruption set.
- Amazing mon, not much to break down here but Waterfall + Dragon Dance and 2 filler moves are the way to go, you can go Taunt, Thunder Wave, or Substitute in one slot, and then you can go Stone Edge, Ice Fang, Outrage, EQ the other or mix and match to your liking. It's one of the main reasons you have to carry speed check because it can get really out of hand quickly. I think also the lack of bulky waters is what allows it to progress so well in this tier. Lum / Wacan / Leftovers all work well. It's interesting because it literally only runs one (different variants in general). It's been quite while personally since I've seen Roar Rest-talk. Stealth Rock weakness keeps it A rank as well as Latias' presense.
- Starmie is by far the most common spinner in the tier, the only reason it isn't higher is because of Tyranitar switch-ins so you have to be careful to bringing it in (IMO). Has a great speed tier, and personally I've been having success with the Life Orb / Choice Specs set which Tyranitar doesn't want to switch-in on. I think it's overall its hard for it to ever move up in the ranking with Tyranitar everywhere. It's speed control is extremely underrated where it forces a lot of the Latias to run scarf or you're getting cooked by LO Ice beam. Natural Cure is one of the best abilities to have in this tier, it just does so much to be honest, and the T-Wave sets are really good.
- Hate this mon but I've grown to love it. In a spike stacking game it does so well. One of the best pivoters in the meta because it only takes 6% each time from Stealth rock switchins so it's extremely low effort. It's a great choiced user, as well as being one of the best speed checks like outspeeding Adamant Agility Gross. The Mix set also causes a lot of issues, and the problem is just scouting out what set it is and what it's going to do.
- Same like Flygon where it's only affected by Stealth Rock but it takes 12.5% damage each switch in, I would say I'm personally a fan of the Choice Scarf set where it has the ability to outspeed a lot of common threats such as Gyarados, Dragonite, and Lucario. I personally though think what puts it up here is the Rest Talk set, this is the ideal switch-in to Brelooms spore, as well as just having access to Will-O-Wisp it can at least do something to Tyranitar switch-ins unlike Latias. Also really good into Starmie Rapid spins, and just threatening with Thunderbolt.
- Stealth Rock lead set with Lum, Shuca, or Occa Berry are really good in general. Iron Ball trick isn't bad either. I think the Agility Gross sets are fantastic late game sweepers especially if Mash decides to give you a boost. I've been using the Scarf sets and I think they're quite underrated on more offensive teams. I think Metagross is this high personally because of it's versatility. Jirachi (If not carrying Fire Punch) kinda gets walled by its fatter sets, so that's also a huge boost on its ranking.
- This one hurt but I would say what makes it worse ranking then Gyarados is overall being locked into Outrage which can be un-timely because no one is using Dragon Claw. As well as having a useless ability 90% of the time (Inner Focus) outside of Jirachi going for Iron Head flinches in comparison to Intimidate which can be extremely valuable in general to break down some physical sweepers. But outside of that, Extreme Speed access is great, I'm huge fan of the MixNite sets as well as the Choice Band sets as well. Stealth Rock definitely puts it down a notch with the choiced sets but overall I think it's one of the top mons just because Dragon types in general are so good when it comes to type / typing.
- Not going to argue much, one of the top mons and overall amazing bulk in conjunction with setting up sand and overall working really well in Semi-Stall / Balanced teams.
- Probably the best classic suicide lead, really good speed tier, Focus Sash is pretty solid still to this day, but I've grown a liking to a bulky Lum set with Taunt / Rocks. Choice Scarf / Band trick lead sets are also really good in general and just adds another layer to prepare for. It does its job very well which is just setting up rocks. Also Levitate works great here where you don't have to sack it right away and use it later for late game explosion.
- I think still the best bulky water in the meta, I feel like spike stacking definitely stops it from reaching higher then this point but personally I've had a lot of success with the more offensive sets just because it provides solid speed as well as just overall strong power without needing to click Calm Mind, I've also used Rest talk sets and they still work really good, this thing is quite bulky and allows it to act as a wall / sweeper depending on the set. Switches in really well against Gyarados.
- Yeah personally I get the Jirachi dominance on why people don't rank Luke this high, but I won't really take this slander. Gliscor is not as popular as it once was, it also is probably the best late game sweeper in the game mainly to how much choiced Draco Meteor I switch into or, how many choiced Crunches from Tyranitar it'll take it just becomes setup-bait and sets up at the most opportunistic times. Swords Dance is quite reliable including Bullet Punch for Scarftar, +2 Extreme Speed + LO essentially kills most offensive mons especially with Stealth Rock chip. Agility sets are also pretty underrated, Choice Scarf Luke also becomes something to prepare for in general. Mix Luke isn't bad either. I think it's overall versatility carries a lot of weight but I've swept way to much to be putting it under A2.
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I won't break down every single mon at this point, but feel free to @ me
- Extremely underrated yeah Latias being common definitely stops it from being a top dog but it still has access to U-Turn, you can just give it leftovers if you hate Sandstorm + Stealth Rock damage continuously. Life Orb I think has become unviable because it loses too much health but I am a big fan of Expert Belt, also it's the best mixed attacker in the game, Fire Blast / Close Combat hits everything. Has access to Mach Punch as well. Nasty Plot / Swords Dance sets are definitely under-utilized. 347 Speed is definitely a solid speed tier, can go further in detail if need but overall stop the hate, I don't think the Life Orb set is the sole reason to bump it down like damn.
Yall need to stop talking shit about this mon, respect to BKC but how is this mon that irrelevant to you, it has high usage because it's the 2nd best pursuiter in the meta, it has access to one of the best priorities in the game and absolutely makes DD tar irrelevant. Access to Roost, Swords Dance + Superpower, can run U-Turn Choice Band / Scarf. It is an excellent pivoter, and a great switch-in on Draco Meteors from Latias and killing it off with pursuit. I think it's the best mon in A3 personally.
Yeah, this is the most underrated mon by far, it wants to get statused (preferably para'd) so it gets its defense boost, and it's just fat, if you have something wanting to setup in its face you can just Haze it, you can toxi-stall if needed. Gives Gyarados a heap of problems to be quite honest, there's really not much to break down on sets it's pretty simple but it also has access to Refresh if you're not running Heal Bell on the team. I feel like in a meta where status is king Milotic can shine quite nice. 95 / 79 / 125 provides overall a good enough defense in order to be considered on a team.
I'll maybe add more if I have time.