dropping a few sets; I played a few games with these and had some success. click the sprites for potential sets
108/72/90/129/90/91
Cobalion comes in with 108/90/90 bulk and a massive 129 special attack stat. Cobalion's typing is solid defensively and offensively too, so there's a lot of versatility with this Pokemon.
40/55/55/130/140/115
Rhyperior has solid natural special defense and really solid speed. With 130 special attack and some great special coverage, Rhyperior is a solid special breaker. It can even afford to run Rock Polish on sets to be a cleaner late-game.
78/77/50/77/56/85
Diggersby now has 77 base attack on top of Huge Power, so it can hit harder than it already did. Scarf sets are likely the best, but I imagine that Choice Band and SD 3 Attacks can make great use of Quick Attack to pick off frailer Pokemon.
108/72/90/129/90/91
Cobalion comes in with 108/90/90 bulk and a massive 129 special attack stat. Cobalion's typing is solid defensively and offensively too, so there's a lot of versatility with this Pokemon.
40/55/55/130/140/115
Rhyperior has solid natural special defense and really solid speed. With 130 special attack and some great special coverage, Rhyperior is a solid special breaker. It can even afford to run Rock Polish on sets to be a cleaner late-game.
78/77/50/77/56/85
Diggersby now has 77 base attack on top of Huge Power, so it can hit harder than it already did. Scarf sets are likely the best, but I imagine that Choice Band and SD 3 Attacks can make great use of Quick Attack to pick off frailer Pokemon.
Jolteon seems underwhelming so far. I had high hopes that it would be an amazing Wish-passer, enabling cool things like Persian-A, Salazzle, and Liepard, but alas, it can't do anything to ground types, giving a free switch-in to beasts like Steelix and Rhyperior, meaning that you are afraid to play it for most of the match.
I haven't made a team that does a great job at utilizing it yet, but Roserade seems promising. 90/105/125/65/70/60 makes it quite bulky on the physical side, and it has the movepool to make use of it. Synthesis, Toxic Spikes, Spikes, Aromatherapy, Leech Seed are all nice to have, and with 105 attack, it is a far less passive spiker than Accelgor. Natural Cure means it doesn't get that attack permanently ruined by burns. Perhaps most importantly, it may be one of the best counters to Sylveon and Primarina. Could be a good partner to Hydreigon.
Excadrill is better than I expected, though still not top tier. Rapid Spin + Stealth Rock is great consolidation for offensive teams, and with its great speed and special defense, I've found it saving me from opposing Avalugg more than once. Its low attack doesn't let it kill much else, but it's certainly something.
Lots of other people have already mentioned it, so all I'll say is that I've really been enjoying Cobalion as an offensive Stealth Rocks lead. I like Thunder Wave over Focus Blast.
One of the best special attacks on something that's not made of paper. Grass/Ghost/Fire coverage is nice, and it has Trick to plant its Specs on a wall. Can pick between two different size statlines to be either a wall-breaker or a set-up sweeper with Nasty Plot. Also a good offensive spin blocker and a switch-in to choice locked Snorlax.
I don't think I have to explain this one. 200 Special Attack is bonkers and with Sheer Force + Life Orb it at the very least 2HKOs the entirety of the meta. Sturdy + HDB is also an option but the power drop is pretty noticeable. If it gets in free, nothing can safely switch in:
Also self-explanatory. With Choice Band you OHKO basically everything as long as you don't hit a resist. The only mons that can kind of switch into it is Dragapult (252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dragapult: 273-322 (55.9 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) and Accelgor (252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Diggersby Body Slam vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Accelgor: 232-274 (46.9 - 55.4%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO), but that's about it.
Pretty slow but if you force a switch you kill something unless it's Dragapult.
People are using Ribombee for some reason but I think this mon is better at setting webs because of Unburden Sash and Magic Coat. At +2 it outspeeds everything up to stuff like Scarf Rhyperior and Endeavors them so that's pretty cool.
Another good suicide lead, it has the perfect tools: Stealth Rock + Spikes, Knock Off, Thunder Wave, Steel Beam, and Explosion. It can even break some sashes with Iron Barbs. Its only weakness is its low speed.
Surprisingly, Scarf Snorlax has the most consistency for me. 110 Attack is good enough to revenge kill most breakers (which are usually frail) and with the extra speed it can stop setup sweepers in their tracks. Speed tying Ditto is pretty cool too.
Very powerful in TR with 145 Special Attack and Nasty Plot. It's really frail, though, so sometimes it can have trouble setting up.
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Shell Smash has been brought up before both in our council discussion and here. With the high defensive stats of your typical Shell Smash user turned into incredible offenses, one boost is often enough to cleave through teams. This one moves feels like the primary reason Pokemon like Cloyster or Torkoal are so powerful, since their Speed stats aren't terribly good unless boosted, and their ability to break is severely cut down as well. General consensus seems to be that this, or the users, need to go first.
Sylveon is something I've used a lot and seen a lot. Double Edge, Body Slam, and boosted Facade are all extremely powerful, and Priority Pixilate Quick Attack hits extremely hard. Although it has a barren physical movepool, I feel like the general lack of strong Fairy-resists viable right now make it easy to go full-STAB, and it can harass the few Pokemon which can switch into it with Toxic or Yawn. Sylveon might be good solely as a result of how offensive the Metagame is, since there are some very strong answers to it (Arcanine immediately comes to mind), so I'd be more keen on looking into it later rather than now, but it's definitely established itself as one of the most dangerous Pokemon around.
Rhyperior is phenomenal. It's got amazing Special Attack and coverage, a great Speed stat, and a variety of sets it can run. I've fell in love with Scarf. It beats out so much of the Metagame, including a lot of otherwise game-ending sweepers like Torkoal and Rock Polish Modest Steelix, and can easily plow through weakened teams, though this is by no means it's only option. Pokeseba was definitely onto something with their S-Rank nomination, though I'm not in total agreement.
Avalugg is fast, has an insane Special attack stat, and a great combination of Sturdy + Rapid Spin + Heavy Duty Boots, allowing it to switch in and potentially remove hazards while setting itself up in one move, and maintaining Sturdy in the process, so it can take at least one hit. However, it is one of the frailest Pokemon in the metagame by far, and it's easily exploited by bulky Water and Steel types due to limited coverage options. It has the looks of an overbearing Pokemon but I can't say it feels like one.
Goodra's combination of bulk, speed, raw power, and sizable movepool is pretty ridiculous, but it suffers a lot from requiring Outrage to truly shine. Once it uses Outrage, it's easy for a Fairy or some Steels to come in and wreck havoc in response. Without a Fairy it's a lot harder, but being unable to switch while locked into Outrage still leaves it open to counterplay. I've heard some things about Goodra but, while really good, I see it as pretty tame compared to the other Pokemon I've mention. Really curious about people's thoughts on Goodra in Flipped.
Sticky Web is pretty powerful and annoying to fight against with all the strong Pokemon running around, but that might be it: the metagame is currently really favorable towards it, and a shift towards more balanced play could do a lot. I haven't lost to a lot of Webs teams but they are frustrating to combat, and very common from what I've seen, so I am, again, looking for other's thoughts on the matter.
Fishious Rend/Bolt Beak and their subservient users have been problematic in both standard play and a lot of OMs. Of course that's not a reason for them to be immediately banworthy here, and I haven't seen any of these much on the ladder, but I am concerned about how simple and effective these are to use. They could easy have restrictive effects on Speed tiers and team-building down the line.
Togekiss had a good amount of hype around it but seems to have trailed off. Hustle makes it unreliable compared to other options which are of similar strength and without having to worry about missing their attacks. Could it be too much? Potentially, but I haven't seen it played much, nor a lot of discussion about it which views it as problematic.
This pokemon is fantastic. With Heavy-Duty Boots, Fire Typing, Intimidate, and Will-o-Wisp, Arcanine is a phenomenal switch-in to the three most common priority users: Hitmontop, Togekiss, and in particular, Sylveon. This utility makes it valuable for both defensive and offensive teams. For its last slot (after Wisp, Morning Sun, and a fire attack) It can carry Extremespeed to pick off a weakened glass cannon, or Teleport to efficiently swap to a teammate.
Another physically defensive fire mon with Will-o-Wisp, who would also hard counter Sylveon. Differentiates itself from Arcanine with Defog at the expense of Intimidate and special bulk.
Looks to be practically the best Steelix counter you could ask for, if only it had recovery. With Wish support it could be a great phazer for defensive teams, and with Dragon Dance, offensive teams can clearly use it as well.
