Resource National Dex Viability Rankings (Post Tera Ban)

At least that's what I would say if he didn't have Bulletproof; but seriously I think Chesnaught is still C- material, even if the Mega Charizard Y hype has died down significantly, being able to check SD Ogerpon-W (probably the most centralising Pokemon right now), Great Tusk, Kingambit and non-Make it Rain Gholdengo is actually insane, even if it can't do anything to the latter or Flying-types in return.

Was meaning to come back to this for a while but I got really distracted by new games taking up all my free time lol. Anyways I'm gonna actually gonna say that

:Chesnaught: C- -> C+
Hot take but it's better than nearly everything in C- and even C (with a couple exceptions but I'll talk about it some other time). It's still pretty awkward to fit, but on the teams it does slot into it provides really useful role compression as it blanket checks a shit ton of physical stuff (Gambit, Tusk, Samurott-H, Mega Lop, Kartana, Wellspring, Ferrothorn, Mega Ttar, Urshifu-R) and even some stuff like non MIR Ghold, non Acro Moon, and Weather Ball ZardY (just be sure to scout for Z moves on the former and extra coverage on the latter). It does this while providing a punish to u-turn spam as well as being a Spikes setter that can also run knock off to assist partner stealth rockers in wearing down boots wearing flying types such as Zap/Molt and even Dragonite or Tornadus-T. Knock also being useful to remove items of other would be switch ins like Gholdengo, Tapu Koko / Lele, Toxapex/Mola and even Terapagos attempting to come in to spin. I've been laddering a lot with this lately and been quite impressed by it.
 
Quick noms

:Latios-Mega: B- -> A-
The more I use it, the more it just puts in a lot of work both offensively and defensively. It hits like a truck, especially with coverage making sure almost no steel-types have the chance to wall it, is immune to spikes and does well into the Gliscor/Toxapex balance cores dominating the metagame, is one of the best and most splashable Ogerpon-W checks in the game, and is one of the best Yard checks in the game, and one of it’s biggest detriments, Pursuit, has kinda fallen off, and even then MLati can rival most of them (Tyranitar can’t switch into aura sphere, and at least it can set up mind games with gambit).

:Charizard-Mega-Y: A -> A-
It had it’s moment, but right now it’s kinda just not in the best position, especially when one of the most splashable moms right now(Toxapex) can just stonewall it with toxic, and that’s adding onto the fact that it usually has many ways of dealing with it’s common hazard removal partners, meaning it’s harder to offset it’s crippling stealth rock weakness. Sure, it can still break really hard, but I feel like it’s gotten increasingly harder to do so as the metagame evolves.
 
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team is out of wc so figured it was a good time to provide the thread my objectively correct ratings and thoughts

:gholdengo: S- - tier king, any game its used it will do everything needed of it and more. anchors pretty much all balance structures checks every fkin mon under the sun can run 30x sets this mon is just so good

:gliscor: S- - this mon is rly cancer and should prob get a suspect at some point maybe after wc. forces extremely boring uninteractive scenarios to the point there is a fkin flowchart for how to use it KEKCHUNGUS. in practice i wouldnt really call it broken especially when a lot of examples of it being broken in practice r just skill issue but the problems with this mon r very real. outside all that mon defines one of the most consistent archetypes in the tier and will never disappoint in game.

:diancie-mega: A+ - diancie is currently the best its ever been this gen imo. great pick on bo and probably the most consistent lead for ho. between diastorm moonblast ep mfire and hpice diancie can hit pretty much the entire meta. Mon very strong Uhhhh:psysly::psysly:

:volcarona: A+ - volcarona is a really fucked up creature. not sure if i buy into it being broken just yet but with every set it has available and how easy it is to just put it on some dia ho or lord forbid the dia + zama screens slop i can see the argument and could maybe see myself eventually agreeing but need to see more of it. sub z bug can feel like ur cheating sometimes tho...

:kingambit: A - Kingambit is the most broken SVOU threat and it has knock off and pursuit... Why is it A... Why... This doesnt make sense.... What the fuck....

:alomomola: A - this mon is rly cancer and rly good especially iv u justr click flip turn x100 like a robot XDDDDDDDDDDDD

:roaring-moon: A - this might be low but i think i rate the archetype this mon is best on (ho) higher than the mon itself. individually gets checked pretty safely by several common mons like lando press ferro pdef pex(to an extent) zama clef ting etc. but issue currently is that it just chips for one of its other strong guys to clean up and vice versa. puts the player going up against the strong ho guy into a really awkward position. dont think its to the point it was w diacrown stuff in tera meta yet but i wouldnt be surprised if ppl end up complaining about ho being too much again w moon but just too early to call. Makes me wonder why it was freed. Haha. maybe ill make a more cohesive ho post later if it turns out im right which i will be like always.

:clefable: A - clef is the goat holds down the balance fort like a champ. cm sets super underutilized right now and util is in a great place rn.

:iron-valiant: A- - i thought this mon was on fraud watch and then i watched like 4 games in which it had 6-0 mu or would hav had 6-0 mu into one of or both of the teams brought so he stays A- with potential to rise. koko val is mid tho sadly.

:great-tusk: A- - im probably too low on this but i just use other grounds too much. 4a is soooo good though

:kyurem: B+ - hidden broken.. i wont tell how though :blobwizard:

:kartana: B+ - kartana is goood stop using shitty sets tho plzz just use z fight and click goooood

:raging-bolt: B+ - fraud watch

:serperior: B+ - glare is cancer serp deserves more use

:pecharunt: B - could prob go higher pech is in a rly nice spot checks a lot of the cancer fkers rly nicely

:celesteela: B - steela is so good especially w the above pech this core is so fkin broken feels like u have the great wall of china defending u

:araquanid: B- - webs r still ok kinda fish but can win

:pelipper: B- - charity ranking rain sucks ass id UR but thats a bit unreasonable isnt it

:reuniclus: C - use this mon its so good(hypothetically) beats up on bo/balance slop hard(hypothetically) and can fish wins off teams not prepping for it(hypothetically)

:rillaboom: C - garbage but extender is kinda cool for... My purposes..... :blobpex::blobpex::blobpex::blobpex:


Shoutout to omarsgarciav
 
:Garganacl: C- -> C+
talked about this Mon in the main discussion thread recently here so I won’t reiterate too much, but this Mon has got some good match ups currently and is as ever difficult to switch around due to Salt Cure. Really adept at exploiting Pokémon like Terapagos, Pex and many defensive picks right now and provided a useful, generally reliable stop to Volcarona. Potent hazard abuser itself, good SR user that beats almost all our common removal options, and puts most offensive threats on a timer through Salt and Protect. Can drop SR for secondary attacks like Ice Punch for Gliscor/Lando and general extra damage into Glowking wanting to stay in on it, can run EQ to smack Heatran and Glowking for big damage, Heavy Slam beats Diancie and hits Lele hard in a pinch. Very under explored Mon that’s much better the junk in C- and simply needs more attention and care when building around it. (Posting the replays from the main thread for emphasis)

Replay where Garg abuses TSpikes to amplify pressure from Salt Cure and help wear down dangerous threats even with Mola behind them.

Rain game that minus a misplay with Venu, Garg put tons of pressure from lead and made a lot of progress.

Game where Ice Punch Garg sat for 30+ turns and even ended up taking out Roost Gliscor (crit helped) while also freezing Mola which kept it from wish passing.

:Scizor-Mega: A- -> B+
Struggles into the Gliscor spikes teams dominating the tier, has trouble with relevant Zapdos/Moltres match ups as well as Gholdengo and in general feels like it’s not an amazing choice right now.

:Raging-Bolt: A -> A-
Not very consistent atm and has a really poor match up into Gliscor+Ferro teams which more or less eat it up for breakfast. Can still be threatening in some match ups, but teams are very prepared for this Mon by now and I don’t think it’s that crazy.
 
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everything is ordered but it is progressively less strict the lower you go. going to lay out my criteria and then talk about a few mons that might stick out. this is not an attempt to make an objective list, it is based off personal usage and experience playing against it. also from other players who i respect their mind for the game enough have made an impact on some placements.

S tier: meta defining, little downsides or extremely flexible/splashable.

A tier: largely important glues or the most consistent contributors to the strongest playstyles.

B tier: similarly to A tier but less splashable and require more support, and more specific roles.

C tier: niche pokemon with highly specific roles that fit on niche playstyles or require a lot of support.

Before proceeding, C- some of these are hypothetical judgements about pokemon I have never tried but that I think could be viable on paper.

:Gholdengo: I don't think this one is controversial but everyone might have slightly different #1 pokemon so here is my reasoning. You can throw this mon on any team and it always pulls double its weight. It has endless utility, defensive Twave or NP sets are both incredible and it makes spinning or defogging really difficult. There is a limited amount of consistent removal into it because you can tech for anything you want. Resists berries, NP Z and Twave are all frustrating to deal with and guessing the set/covg is frustrating. Offensive Ghold can honestly beat down its checks like no other because the offensive checks can not switch into it safely but it also punishes pivots because it threatens NP with a resist berry/balloon or Z. I think theres even further potential with sets like sub Z on HO to abuse defensive pivots like Alomomola. Overall offers a lot to the tier and imo is the best pokemon.

:Volcarona: I made a PVR around beginning of WC and this thing was in S- for me. There was no criteria and I was biased because of how much I hate this thing but it remains A+ due to the fact it is one of the strongest sweepers in the tier right now. It forces awkward move choices on pokemon like Moltres to run Roar/Brave Bird, even Toxapex is largely forced to run Haze on a lot of teams because of Volcarona. Not much else to say except that I despise it's presence in the builder and a suspect would be nice. nobody would miss this thing.

:scizor mega: Off SD 2a or 3a with DWB is really strong, top 5 mega, very solid defensive utility. I see a lot of teams that just flat out lose to this lmao but defensive is held back by spikes.

:Melmetal: Punching Glove kinda absent in a lot of games sadly but with how common spikes are it is difficult to find good oppurtunties to switch in and get going. Lefties + Protect is generally good at sustaining itself and it has more room for error but still needs hazard removal. AV would generally be a lot better if Spikes werent so common. Very good at wearing down its checks (sometimes haxing through them), its pretty limited to what it can use rn for the reasons mentioned but very solid, honest pokemon.

:cresselia: Prob contreversial but in essence i really like Spdefensive/Def Twave + Lunar Dance. Pairs well with breakers who get worn down early trading with something. Catch all check to a bunch of things like Diancie, Yard, Medi, Lele which can take up multiple slots to check. The downside to this shit is that it is super weak to Pursuitters like Gambit/Tar but its good in the right mu.

:Heatran: Offensive Tran is very solid still, I would not touch spdef tho.

:Greninja: After Kyos game I think this mon deserves a second look, solid speed tier and can snowball under the right circumstances with boosts/flinches.

:chansey: i have this below bliss because you use it exclusively on sabe stall. nobody uses chansey outside stall anymore either.

:rotom wash: dont hate too hard, ngl i had no idea where to put this since i never used it and it felt wrong to not include him.

:kingambit: last but not least LOL. think this mon is underexplored, SD is also overrated in the sense that nobody uses anthing else despite there being plenty of things that threaten KGB out throughout the game. Most of these teams arent even designed to wear down KGBs checks either, SD is just slapped on which i find a bit ridiculous. helmet/hazards obviously way to go with SD but otherwise if youre still looking to utilize it then stuff like toxic sucker lefties or slopcat mentioned chople pursuit, i think cb is great on balance/fatter structures just dont lose to moon/val if youre locked into knock. scarf is the forbidden fruit......

bit of a meme when it came to the explanatiions but these rankings are an accurate representation of my view on the meta. looking forward to see your vrs too. i didnt add every mon, only the mons i think are actually viable. https://tiermaker.com/create/natdex-ou-personal-vr-16145786?downloadedImage=true
 
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A+ ->S

For a millennium this pokemon has always shaped the meta around it regardless of the threatening presence (In a way that justifies its ranking even further, as threats to it are made more viable due to it purely existing) with mons like gliscor sitting on it and lele almost always fucking it up, this mon still owns 90% of the tier. It’s far beyond the best defensive pokemon in Nat Dex right now even with ferrothorn into discussion as ferrothorn’s primary role as a hazard setter draws it back as a true physical or special deterrent. Even keeping in mind the 2 mons in S keeping Toxapex from being S mostly, the base fact that it does so much so freely in most cases throughout games shows its many notable strengths and not a lot of weaknesses. The fact that most of the tier is catered around whether or not they have a losing or winning matchup vs THIS specific mon is noteworthy of itself. Forcing entire moveslots to be used just to be able to deal with it properly, such as taunt on ogre so it doesnt lose straight up lose 1v1. The fact that this mon forces so much that it bends a tier to its will offers more discussion for it to become S (Let it be known this mon is 1 of the only 2 reasons shifu isnt A+ or let alone S)

As shown in NDWC, toxapex is a VERY amazing enabler as being showcased with the ferrothorn-toxapex-gliscor core being quite literally unbreakable which is made possible due to toxapex making fire types non existent and taking the ice hits ferrothorn isnt always comfortable doing (No reliable recovery). Not to mention its the only mon that RELIABLY BEATS ALL ZAMAZENTA SETS.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2352161362-x9dpy85g2b1inmc523tdfh6vwb30e4rpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9nationaldex-835338
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9nationaldex-2342392454-to39d5ci9pa65sb4dgfafu8g9794q8upw
These games being great examples of everything ive said above.
 
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:gholdengo: S- : Why isn’t this S- already??? Bulky Ghold is by far the best set in my opinion cause it can take hits while still being able to do crazy damage. Bulky Ghold can t wave most of the tier and then spam hex. Or bulky Ghold can instead get the freest nasty plots of all time and spam shadow ball. Also it can throw off ghost type nukes with ghostium z, or muscle past steels and darks with focus blast/Fightium z. Ghold could also choose to temporarily negate its ground weakness with balloon or shuca. All while keeping hazards on the field. This thing is crazy good. It’s amazing on balance, offense, HO and probably stall too. It has an amazing matchup into 90% of the meta game, and bulky Ghold can’t really be pursuit trapped thanks to focus blast and being able to take a pursuit(though not incredibly well).
252+ Atk Tyranitar-Mega switching boosted Pursuit (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Gholdengo: 288-342 (76.1 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit switching boosted Pursuit (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Gholdengo: 252-296 (66.6 - 78.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 
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B+ -> A- Very good into meta rn. Good wallbreaker that checks yard, provides a ground immune, and great defensive utility. Luster purge spdf drops can cheese you out of certain mus.

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C- -> C+ Tried it out recently and I dont think its that bad. Suffers from a lack of consistent recovery (esp if lefties are knocked off) but I think its defensive profile in the meta makes it a good choice. Definitely should rise

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B+ -> A- The role compression this provides is great. Stealth rocks, twave, knock are all very good choices. Good on stacking teams with magic guard and knock. Cm is also a thing but havent properly tried

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A -> A-/B+ This thing just fell off a bit. Feels pretty meh a lot of games with things like ferro, glis, lando on most teams.

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A- -> A Similar to lati provides a lot of defensive utility with its typing and serves as a good glue to more offensive structures

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A-> A+ Thing is just crazy, best wallbreaker in tier imo.
 
Welll here I am back again: besides the fall of Heatran and my opinion that it should be a lot higher, I wanna discuss about a Pókemon that I think it's quite underrated:


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Why should Iron Crown go from C+ to B (B- at worst)?
Before Terastalization was banned, Iron Crown was one of the greatest Pókemon in National Dex to the püoint of being problematic in the tier due to its ability to change typings defensively and able to set-up itself easily with Booster energy and great natural bulk alongside its great typing synergy. But was that it? Nope, while terastalization was still around, Crown's biggest foes in Kingambit and Gholdengo were long banned, therefore meaning there weren't that much of Pókemon that could consistently tank its hits maybe outside of Heatran and Ting-Lu, but even then, Iron Crown could have dealt worn them down soon, either it or its teammates. While the AV nd Pivot sets were all great, the Stored Power set was the most feared due to Crown's Booster Energy activating, hiding behind screens great natural bulk alongside its great typing synergy, letting it able to set-up and win. It could use either Iron Defence + Calm Mind or Agility + Calm Mind. Now that Teratzslitzation is banned, Iron Crown has difficulties to set up itself, but the worst part is that Kingambit alongside Gholdengo returned in NDOU, making Crown's ability to stay in the tier that much harder. Kingambit and Ghlodengo both resist its STAB attacks and Gholdengo is immune to Focus Blast. Crown finds itself outclassed by Gholdengo for a Steel type in mayor teams. Does that mean Iron Crown is unviable? No. While it doesn't appreciate the presence of these two, Iron Crown can easily foind oportunities to set-up and cause havoc. It still has ebnough versatility not to be underestimated with.




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Iron Crown @ Assault Vest
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Tachyon Cutter
- Psychic Noise / Future Sight
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast
Assault Vest: although Gholdengo mostly outcallses Crown as a Pókemon that can wall Tapu Lele, Iron Crown has a pivoting move in Volt Switch, a STAB Steel attack that doesn`'t lower its stats, a way to block walls to recover, better bulk and speed. While to as strong as Gholdengo or not having an amazing ability as Gholdengo, Crown still can manage to work as an AV pivot easily, making a great synergy woith Tapu Koko with Electric Terrain for power or/and Alomomola with Wish for recovery. This set can be fantastic for teams that are looking for a sepial wall with poívoting moves and a way to stop walls from healing.




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Iron Crown @ Fightinium Z / Steelium Z / Psychium Z
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Tachyon Cutter
- Psychic Noise
- Volt Switch
- Focus Blast

Z-Crystal: well, everyone can hold a Z-Crystal for power, outside of course Mega-Pókemon. Including Iron Crown, it can hold a Z-Move to boost its offensive capabilities even more, it can hold Fightium-Z if it wants a powerful and accurate Fighting coverage move or even a Steelium-Z or Psychium-Z for boosting its STAB power. It syanrgeises well with Tapu Koko, turning it into a bulky, fast and powerful wallbreaker. Whuile not the best option for a Pókemon holding a Z-Move, Iron Crown could stll do some work for its teammates with a Z-Crystal.



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Iron Crown @ Weakness Policy / Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe | 84 HP / 172 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 20 Atk
Timid / Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Agility / Iron Defence
- Stored Power
- Tachyon Cutter / Focus Blast

Stored Power: this is the set that defines Iron Crown as a dangerous Pókemon. I already went into details how Crown can easily set-uop itself behind screens and natural bulk and typing, so lets get into it. Iron >Crown has Agility to boost speed, Calm Mind to boost its special attack and defence and even Iron Defence for its defence. With enough boosts, Iron Crown can become almost unkillable, being able to deal devastating damage to its opponents witzh a disgustingly boosted STAB Stored Power and STAB Tacyonj Cutter or coverage like Focus Blast.

So yeah, while not the best, I don't think Iron Crown is THAT horrible enough to be on C tier. I'd be seeing this thing in B, or B- at least since there is Kommo-o, who is in my opinion far less effective that Iron Crown.


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From A to A+!
I think Roaring Moon is critical enogh to be ranked A+ tier in my opinion. Why? With Booster Energy, it can boost either its Attack and Speed - as it its Attack (139) and Speed (119) aren't incredible enough - to cause huge damage while being faster that´n the opponent. It can boost these contributes even more witzh Dragon Dance. Plus its much more versatile: it doesn't just work in sun with Choice Band or Choice Scarf, rather it can work as a powerful pivot, a sweeper with Z-Crystals.




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From A- to A (or A+)!
I can't believe this thing dropped. I already made a discussion how strong and versatile Iron Valiant can be, so I'd advise you to check it out.
At short, this thing incredible offensive capabilities, movepool and dangerous and unexpectable and dangerous versatility. If it's not good enough for A+ tier, at LEAST make it be ranked A tier!

Post:



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Form A- to A!
Just like Iron Valiant, I alredy expressed reasons why Heatran should be ranked higher, but to keep it short, it's does well against bulky playstyles, has great natutral bulk. It can even set a threatening offensive pressure with STAB Magama Storm, blocking the opponents, coverage like Earth Power and Hidden Power Ice:

Post:



:Zamazenta: Thanks for reading! Wish y'all a good one! :Zamazenta:
 
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:Roaring-Moon: A -> A+
This is one of the most dangerous and centralizing Pokémon in the tier full stop, and is up there alongside Volcarona for being one of the most annoying set up threats around. It’s capable of making huge progress in most match ups due to its high natural damage and teams lacking Fini, Clefable, LandoT, Melmetal or Ferrothorn will struggle to hold it back from blowing holes in their side of the field. I’d even argue it’s straddling the line of broken right now but that’s for another discussion.
 
:Roaring-Moon: A -> A+
This is one of the most dangerous and centralizing Pokémon in the tier full stop, and is up there alongside Volcarona for being one of the most annoying set up threats around. It’s capable of making huge progress in most match ups due to its high natural damage and teams lacking Fini, Clefable, LandoT, Melmetal or Ferrothorn will struggle to hold it back from blowing holes in their side of the field. I’d even argue it’s straddling the line of broken right now but that’s for another discussion.
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:tapu-bulu: to C+
Never shoulda dropped tbh, Grassy is huge support, great Coverage to hit like Every Grass resist in the tier for Super effective, great waterpon Matchup and Great Waterpon Teammate, Also helps alot Ting and vs Ting, good KGB MU, Good Satan MU into non-acrobatics sets, Can switch into CB zama, pairs great with Gholdengo, what Can this mon not do? underexplored mon, I'm gonna get gunned down if I say that it deserves B-
 
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Yo what’s up I’m here to share my take on the vr as we go into ndwc playoffs, I’m putting this here instead of the pvr thread just because I also want to explain some of the stuff here as some placements may seem weird to people.

:Landorus-Therian: Everything else in s- rank makes complete sense but why Lando? I think Lando is still the quintessential defensive piece and even speed control on a ton of structures atm. Defensive sets are able to blanket check a large swathe of the tier depending on your spread; for example, physdef sets do excellently at dealing with stuff like Rmoon, aoa zama, lop, gambit, etc and spdef does well against things like ghold, dia, and koko and also takes hits from other special breakers such as yard Volc and scarf lele in a pinch. Scarf is also one of balance’s best forms of speed control as it provides very nice role compression and momentum against offense.

:Toxapex: Some people may wonder why pex is so high especially when it’s getting cteamed to shit by new innovations such as hatt and stuff like gking glisc and moon (a phys attacker pex doesn’t really check) being really good rn, but even in spite of these matchups being somewhat bad pex can still get immense value out of them and for as many bad mus as it has it also has a bevy of great ones. For example, hatt and some Gliscor sets can be a huge pain, but even so hatt can get scald burnt / hazed and Gliscor needs to waste eqs to beat pex if it’s a utility toxic set, and pex also helps out in so many other areas such as against Volc yard shifu and helps pivot against ferro and other pex for certain teams. Tspikes are also really good in some matchups like ho / sun.

:dragonite: I think for many bo / offense / even ho structures dnite still has an insane amount of defensive utility that cannot go unnoticed to me. Being a true water and fire resist in one that also checks ogerpon and has good longevity is something that no other pokemon can do and dnite does it really well. Not only that, it also soft checks stuff like gambit and bulky np Gholdengo. No teams are ever auto-losing to a boots dd dnite, but z sets are extremely threatening with the right moveset in exchange for some longevity against certain threats. It’s a kind of trade off between what you prefer more on your team at least on offense as balance / bo should always be using boots dnite lol. Bulky dtail espeed sets also blanket checks like pretty much the entire tier it’s kinda crazy how much dtail + ada espeed can come in clutch vs. super aggro structures.

:Tornadus-Therian: was against rising this before but I think it’s a pretty reliable pivot in the current metagame, as it’s able to scout tons of offensive threats like ogerpon zama and shifu (the primary ones on paper but in practice there are a lot more). AV is my personal favorite pivot set as although you need some support with other removal it’s really good at just clicking knock off and scouting special threats along with the stuff above like Val lele pagos and tran and can really help shift momentum in your favor. In test games for mspl arty also brought np tornt balance vs. me and it actually was surprisingly good at breaking down balance teams / bo teams, and uturn boots on such a set meant it consistently gained momentum to come back in and break later.

:Clefable: Not a surprising ranking considering the meta but I’m more so questioning where this goes (A- vs. A). It’s a great defensive anchor against virtually every fighting type and dragon (besides maybe bolt) including moon and is great at setting rocks / clicking knock vs. balance, and as such has garnered a ton of usage on balance teams recently. Calm Mind is really good against ferro bo and Lorb is able to catch a ton of balance teams off guard. However I’m not sure if these traits warrant A rank despite how well clef does its job considering it’s mu vs. meta staples like Gholdengo and how some breakers like tusk / ogerpon can overwhelm it easily. Still the goat mon though.

:cinderace: Ace is something I’m up and down on but rn I really like it because of its capabilities as an offensive pivot with a good blend of utility and defensive traits. Offensively, it offers extremely strong pyro balls that rip through many fire resists not named pex or mola combined with coverage like HJK and gunk shot, and it’s also extremely fast. Defensively, it checks iron valiant, gholdengo, and Volcarona for offensive / bo teams. And even on balance it’s good because it’s one of the tier’s few forms of removal and generates a ton of momentum for balance which the structure greatly appreciates. It’s also worth noting that wisp and uturn is extremely good at breaking down common fire resists on offense like dnite, chomp, and mtios.

:great tusk: I personally think tusk is hella overrated as it gives you some poor mus against flyings like zap / tornt and it’s a ground that doesn’t check electrics properly but it’s still fine at doing its job of being a spinner / dark resist. Cc ice spinner offensive sets are able to dismantle a large amount of squads and defensive sets with knock off are good at forcing progress with hazards while having a good amount of defensive utility against gambit, dnite, lop, and zama.


:Slowking-Galar: I think stocks for this are up rn as it is a very solid pivot vs. the tier as a whole (think stuff like lele, koko, pagos). Av is also really nice at blanketing nearly every special threat in the tier, and fsight support is really good at breaking down cores with pex / clef for fightings.

:Moltres: molt is still solid but I think it’s exploitable in a ton of mus as there are a ton of things that molt wants to check but gets knocked off by or it gets annoyed by things like pads shifu / ogerpon / Diancie gaining free entry on it. I think it’s best use is with like roar / toxic as the last moves because toxic makes it not extremely passive vs some threats like chomp and yard while roar helps vs. stuff like moon and Volc. Uturn is still good obvs but with sub volc and ho styles in general on the rise I like roar to be insured vs. those.

:weavile: I’m a fan of weavile personally because of the metagame surrounding it; balance is still performing really well at the moment and weavile combined with spikes support is efficient at forcing progress vs. those structures, and knocking something like pex or ferro can open up mons like lop or Koko late game. Sd is a decent win condition against pexless bo (think: the stuff that uses Pecha or has a dragon as the main fire / water resist like on offense). I think being a fast knock mon with Prio for moon / dnite are really good traits vs. balance and ting lu ho teams in the current meta. Band also has potential since it pursuit traps things like yard, ogerpon, and offensive variants of Gholdengo, allowing you to outplay them easier.

:Hatterene: if you’ve watched ndwc lately or just follow meta trends in general you’ll see that this is on the rise but I place at B rank instead of a safe b- mainly because of its usefulness against balance and preventing spikes (from any kind of team tbh) from going up against offense, which is good to prevent balance teams that utilize spikes Gliscor from choking out offense.

:Tyranitar-mega: I for the life of me cannot build a good mtar team and although it may just be a skill issue I also haven’t seen too much usage of it in ndwc. Whenever I’ve played against it I find it’s too easy to overwhelm with the things it’s supposed to check and being extremely spikes weak hurts, makes you feel like you need a tusk / Mola with it which can cause some other building hurdles. Of course it’s still a good rocker in the short term and some balance teams have trouble switching into knock off reliably but I feel mtar doesn’t get enough chances to do that consistently.

:Primarina: I like this bias aside because of psynoise + scald being able to consistently overwhelm checks such as pex / ferro over time while pivoting on the former to bring in breakers like bolt or lele. Sub Calm Mind sets are also extremely annoying against fatter teams.

:iron moth: Moth is not that bad in my eyes as it does have potential to clean vs. offense especially since it has the coverage to win against foes like weakened dnite and moon, however it does jackshit vs. balance which is why it’s in b-.

:Rillaboom: Hard to slot but sd is kinda ok vs. some teams (Prio and more longevity / bulk is what separates it from kart and ogerpon) and it’s an ok facilitator of some gterrain abusers.

:garganacl: After testing and watching some tour games where this was used I think this actually has legitimate potential, it’s a decent rocker especially because it checks Terapagos extremely well and other forms of removal such as Zapdos, tornt, and the rarer Corviknight. Balance stuff without gking has a tough time outlasting Garg because salt cure is that good and not many teams are prepping for Garg anymore. Offense teams also generally don’t like how it spreads so much chip damage at once especially in combination with tect, and it does have some neat defensive utility in checking stuff like Volc, Sun, tornt, and Koko. It still has its issues but this does have some traits that could be explored more.

:kingdra: I’ve used this in rain because I remember one of my friends using it and after giving their rain a spin it actually does an ok job at breaking down water resists for the structure so then Mpert can clean up later.

There isn’t really else anything notable to talk about in C / C- tier but if there is any question on why something is ranked lmk, or anything else on this list really.
 
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Yo what’s up I’m here to share my take on the vr as we go into ndwc playoffs, I’m putting this here instead of the pvr thread just because I also want to explain some of the stuff here as some placements may seem weird to people.

:Landorus-Therian: Everything else in s- rank makes complete sense but why Lando? I think Lando is still the quintessential defensive piece and even speed control on a ton of structures atm. Defensive sets are able to blanket check a large swathe of the tier depending on your spread; for example, physdef sets do excellently at dealing with stuff like Rmoon, aoa zama, lop, gambit, etc and spdef does well against things like ghold, dia, and koko and also takes hits from other special breakers such as yard Volc and scarf lele in a pinch. Scarf is also one of balance’s best forms of speed control as it provides very nice role compression and momentum against offense.

:Toxapex: Some people may wonder why pex is so high especially when it’s getting cteamed to shit by new innovations such as hatt and stuff like gking glisc and moon (a phys attacker pex doesn’t really check) being really good rn, but even in spite of these matchups being somewhat bad pex can still get immense value out of them and for as many bad mus as it has it also has a bevy of great ones. For example, hatt and some Gliscor sets can be a huge pain, but even so hatt can get scald burnt / hazed and Gliscor needs to waste eqs to beat pex if it’s a utility toxic set, and pex also helps out in so many other areas such as against Volc yard shifu and helps pivot against ferro and other pex for certain teams. Tspikes are also really good in some matchups like ho / sun.

:dragonite: I think for many bo / offense / even ho structures dnite still has an insane amount of defensive utility that cannot go unnoticed to me. Being a true water and fire resist in one that also checks ogerpon and has good longevity is something that no other pokemon can do and dnite does it really well. Not only that, it also soft checks stuff like gambit and bulky np Gholdengo. No teams are ever auto-losing to a boots dd dnite, but z sets are extremely threatening with the right moveset in exchange for some longevity against certain threats. It’s a kind of trade off between what you prefer more on your team at least on offense as balance / bo should always be using boots dnite lol. Bulky dtail espeed sets also blanket checks like pretty much the entire tier it’s kinda crazy how much dtail + ada espeed can come in clutch vs. super aggro structures.

:Tornadus-Therian: was against rising this before but I think it’s a pretty reliable pivot in the current metagame, as it’s able to scout tons of offensive threats like ogerpon zama and shifu (the primary ones on paper but in practice there are a lot more). AV is my personal favorite pivot set as although you need some support with other removal it’s really good at just clicking knock off and scouting special threats along with the stuff above like Val lele pagos and tran and can really help shift momentum in your favor. In test games for mspl arty also brought np tornt balance vs. me and it actually was surprisingly good at breaking down balance teams / bo teams, and uturn boots on such a set meant it consistently gained momentum to come back in and break later.

:Clefable: Not a surprising ranking considering the meta but I’m more so questioning where this goes (A- vs. A). It’s a great defensive anchor against virtually every fighting type and dragon (besides maybe bolt) including moon and is great at setting rocks / clicking knock vs. balance, and as such has garnered a ton of usage on balance teams recently. Calm Mind is really good against ferro bo and Lorb is able to catch a ton of balance teams off guard. However I’m not sure if these traits warrant A rank despite how well clef does its job considering it’s mu vs. meta staples like Gholdengo and how some breakers like tusk / ogerpon can overwhelm it easily. Still the goat mon though.

:cinderace: Ace is something I’m up and down on but rn I really like it because of its capabilities as an offensive pivot with a good blend of utility and defensive traits. Offensively, it offers extremely strong pyro balls that rip through many fire resists not named pex or mola combined with coverage like HJK and gunk shot, and it’s also extremely fast. Defensively, it checks iron valiant, gholdengo, and Volcarona for offensive / bo teams. And even on balance it’s good because it’s one of the tier’s few forms of removal and generates a ton of momentum for balance which the structure greatly appreciates. It’s also worth noting that wisp and uturn is extremely good at breaking down common fire resists on offense like dnite, chomp, and mtios.

:great tusk: I personally think tusk is hella overrated as it gives you some poor mus against flyings like zap / tornt and it’s a ground that doesn’t check electrics properly but it’s still fine at doing its job of being a spinner / dark resist. Cc ice spinner offensive sets are able to dismantle a large amount of squads and defensive sets with knock off are good at forcing progress with hazards while having a good amount of defensive utility against gambit, dnite, lop, and zama.


:Slowking-Galar: I think stocks for this are up rn as it is a very solid pivot vs. the tier as a whole (think stuff like lele, koko, pagos). Av is also really nice at blanketing nearly every special threat in the tier, and fsight support is really good at breaking down cores with pex / clef for fightings.

:Moltres: molt is still solid but I think it’s exploitable in a ton of mus as there are a ton of things that molt wants to check but gets knocked off by or it gets annoyed by things like pads shifu / ogerpon / Diancie gaining free entry on it. I think it’s best use is with like roar / toxic as the last moves because toxic makes it not extremely passive vs some threats like chomp and yard while roar helps vs. stuff like moon and Volc. Uturn is still good obvs but with sub volc and ho styles in general on the rise I like roar to be insured vs. those.

:weavile: I’m a fan of weavile personally because of the metagame surrounding it; balance is still performing really well at the moment and weavile combined with spikes support is efficient at forcing progress vs. those structures, and knocking something like pex or ferro can open up mons like lop or Koko late game. Sd is a decent win condition against pexless bo (think: the stuff that uses Pecha or has a dragon as the main fire / water resist like on offense). I think being a fast knock mon with Prio for moon / dnite are really good traits vs. balance and ting lu ho teams in the current meta. Band also has potential since it pursuit traps things like yard, ogerpon, and offensive variants of Gholdengo, allowing you to outplay them easier.

:Hatterene: if you’ve watched ndwc lately or just follow meta trends in general you’ll see that this is on the rise but I place at B rank instead of a safe b- mainly because of its usefulness against balance and preventing spikes (from any kind of team tbh) from going up against offense, which is good to prevent balance teams that utilize spikes Gliscor from choking out offense.

:Tyranitar-mega: I for the life of me cannot build a good mtar team and although it may just be a skill issue I also haven’t seen too much usage of it in ndwc. Whenever I’ve played against it I find it’s too easy to overwhelm with the things it’s supposed to check and being extremely spikes weak hurts, makes you feel like you need a tusk / Mola with it which can cause some other building hurdles. Of course it’s still a good rocker in the short term and some balance teams have trouble switching into knock off reliably but I feel mtar doesn’t get enough chances to do that consistently.

:Primarina: I like this bias aside because of psynoise + scald being able to consistently overwhelm checks such as pex / ferro over time while pivoting on the former to bring in breakers like bolt or lele. Sub Calm Mind sets are also extremely annoying against fatter teams.

:iron moth: Moth is not that bad in my eyes as it does have potential to clean vs. offense especially since it has the coverage to win against foes like weakened dnite and moon, however it does jackshit vs. balance which is why it’s in b-.

:Rillaboom: Hard to slot but sd is kinda ok vs. some teams (Prio and more longevity / bulk is what separates it from kart and ogerpon) and it’s an ok facilitator of some gterrain abusers.

:garganacl: After testing and watching some tour games where this was used I think this actually has legitimate potential, it’s a decent rocker especially because it checks Terapagos extremely well and other forms of removal such as Zapdos, tornt, and the rarer Corviknight. Balance stuff without gking has a tough time outlasting Garg because salt cure is that good and not many teams are prepping for Garg anymore. Offense teams also generally don’t like how it spreads so much chip damage at once especially in combination with tect, and it does have some neat defensive utility in checking stuff like Volc, Sun, tornt, and Koko. It still has its issues but this does have some traits that could be explored more.

:kingdra: I’ve used this in rain because I remember one of my friends using it and after giving their rain a spin it actually does an ok job at breaking down water resists for the structure so then Mpert can clean up later.

There isn’t really else anything notable to talk about in C / C- tier but if there is any question on why something is ranked lmk, or anything else on this list really.
No actual way you placed MIDicham above Ursaluna and Volcanion, and kingdra ranked but not arctozolt? Bias bias
 
No actual way you placed MIDicham above Ursaluna and Volcanion, and kingdra ranked but not arctozolt? Bias bias



Ursaluna has never fared worse than it does now in such a spikes heavy metagame, it gets worn down so ridiculously fast and its poor speed makes it easy for even mid range speed teams to circle around it. And no, you cannot throw Mola at the problem and expect it to go away. Luna also has very little defensive utility. Volcanion struggles for a slot when it doesn’t check very much, and the existence of Pex, Mola, MLatios, and importantly Wellspring, makes it unreliable as a threat and forces too much prediction.

While MMedi also can’t directly switch into threats, it also has comparable power, a speed that’s very crucial, and even has priority that allows it to function vs offense because its massive attack makes up for the lack of stab on either option.

Arctozolt is bad this gen. It’s much too slow even under snow and thus is revenged easily, too prediction reliant, needs boots or it gets worn down too fast by hazards, and has too many soft checks. Fuck, Ting-Lu also just sits on this forever unless you run inferior Icicle Crash sets.
 
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