Feels like Rhydon is the most obvious contender for a drop to UUBL purely based on usage. It sees very infrequent use at high level because of Golem (same typing but removes spikes with Rapid Spin and can use Explosion) and Steelix (better matchup into Baton Pass users and Mean Look + Toxic users).
As for the second contender for a drop, possibly Blissey? It had lower usage than even Rhydon in the Invitational main event (but higher usage overall, when considering the play-ins). Offers what often feels like non-existent pressure vs specific offense teams depending on what type of coverage it chooses to run, which when considering how popular offense is at the moment, just makes it feel like a flimsy pick.
This. Rhydon is already currently UUBL in Gen 3 for some of the same reasons as why it would be in Gen 2, and I genuinely cannot remember the last time even on low ladder that I’ve seen someone use Rhydon over Golem, Steelix, Nidoking, Marowak, or Tyranitar. The more specially offensive direction the metagame has been going in for several years now, in conjunction with the dominance of Cloyster has not been kind to Rhydon at all. Water and Ice are two of the most common attacking types in the metagame, and while its Normal resist is good to have, most of the Pokémon running Normal-Type attacks in this metagame also have at least one move that could threaten out a weakened Rhydon, a problem further exacerbated by Rhydon and company’s Spikes vulnerability and lower Speed benchmarks. I feel like Rhydon’s access to Body Slam could help a little bit in this regard, but with RestTalk to help against status and most RestTalk users running two attacks these days (aside from MonoLax), this might not be the most consistent move choice, especially if that means giving up one of either Curse or Roar.
All of this being said, Rhydon does still have its advantages over other Pokémon in this metagame. Outside of Explosion, it maintains a stronger damage output than Golem which famously makes Rhydon a good fit for certain Paralysis Spam team styles. It also matches up decently against most non-Earthquake Snorlax variants and, rather surprisingly, most of the metagame’s best Steel-Types, even Skarmory, with the possibility of running Curse + Roar sets or maybe some unexplored RestTalk variant alongside dual STAB if anyone wants to try and build with that. I can even see a world where Protect becomes a viable move on Rhydon, to further aid Leftovers recovery but more importantly give Rhydon the ability to scout Zapdos, Raikou, and Jolteon’s Hidden Power type in combination with good switching. This is notably a strategy that Golem or Steelix might not be able to replicate as effectively due to the habit of these Electric-Types, especially the Ground-immune Zapdos, not wanting to be on the receiving end of a possible Explosion read.
I’m sorry if this is too long of a read and/or if I do not have the permission or credibility to post here. I just thought I would leave some of my thoughts on Rhydon in the current metagame. As for Blissey, I might be back with a post on that, but as luck would have it I’ve actually been trying to experiment with a new Blissey set myself on the ladder that’s been surprisingly efficient but unfortunately I still suck at this game and can’t seem to break through the low ladder cheese that is some of the more anti-meta options I keep finding.
If I lose to one more Perish Trap Misdreavus team I am going to scream
