ORAS UU Viability Ranking Thread V6

[tomsk]

Goodra should be higher imo, It's an absolute beast that eats up a Water/Fire/Grass core. Combined with some Hazards it can do work with Sap Sipper + Dragon tail. It has a great movepool and bulk to back it up. It naturally works great in a DragFairySteel core aswell.

 

[spuds4ever]

Not too sure about goodra, I think it has very situational utility due to it being so heavily focused on one spectrum with stuff like entei easily 2hkoing it with max HP investment and also has problems actually threatening any kind of defensive core particularly if running assault vest. I've heard some good things about specs but I can't think of many instances other than maybe as a NP celebi check where I wouldn't just rather use kyurem which has a much easier time offensively thanks to a secondary STAB and sits at a much better speed tier or hydra which boasts more balanced bulk, a more flexible movepool and lots more resistances.

I do think Snorlax, however, can move up. Curselax's only real counters are cobalion, sableye and conk, the former of which have dropped a lot in usage since mence left and sylveon is everywhere while conk has not made a large impact as of yet at least in usage. I feel it's a mon that's definitely better than stuff like empoleon or nidoqueen and is better matched with mons like reuniclus and mamo.

 

[Kink]

Not too sure about goodra, I think it has very situational utility due to it being so heavily focused on one spectrum with stuff like entei easily 2hkoing it with max HP investment and also has problems actually threatening any kind of defensive core particularly if running assault vest. I've heard some good things about specs but I can't think of many instances other than maybe as a NP celebi check where I wouldn't just rather use kyurem which has a much easier time offensively thanks to a secondary STAB and sits at a much better speed tier or hydra which boasts more balanced bulk, a more flexible movepool and lots more resistances.

I do think Snorlax, however, can move up. Curselax's only real counters are cobalion, sableye and conk, the former of which have dropped a lot in usage since mence left and sylveon is everywhere while conk has not made a large impact as of yet at least in usage. I feel it's a mon that's definitely better than stuff like empoleon or nidoqueen and is better matched with mons like reuniclus and mamo.

Conk is one of the best mons in the tier, and sports a high win rate in UU open. You're also forgetting Lucario, Infernape, Machamp, Heracross, and Mienshao. There are plenty of fighting types that can take advantage of Snorlax's Curse set. I love Snorlax, but it shouldn't rise. If anything, the ubiquity of Conk has made it even more difficult for it to do its job.

 

[Pearl]

Finally updated the thread's banner! Big shoutout to MandyRoh for the amazing job with it n_n

 

[Nightingales]

As much as I love Sceptile the ad set is good guys I feel like meta game shifts towards bulkier offense make its job harder. Yeah, it preys on bulky waters, but it faces massive competition from Celebi who also has much more versatility and can boost while recovering and can beat just about every fairy without dropping its spa.

So maybe Sceptile could move down to a-.

Don't hurt me.

 

[Kreme]

As much as I love Sceptile the ad set is good guys I feel like meta game shifts towards bulkier offense make its job harder. Yeah, it preys on bulky waters, but it faces massive competition from Celebi who also has much more versatility and can boost while recovering and can beat just about every fairy without dropping its spa.

So maybe Sceptile could move down to a-.

Don't hurt me.

I disagree, Mega Sceptile may face competition from Celebi for a spot on teams as a Grass-type, but honestly metagame shifts aren't too hard on it, because Whimsicott is less common due to Sylveon being a premier offensive Fairy-type and Sylveon proving to be the more popular choice over Florges on defensive teams is much better for Sceptile due to Sylveon having lower SpD. Mamoswine is also in decline atm with Krookodile being the main Ground-type on teams next to Swampert, which is another thing Sceptile has going for it.

There's some stuff that goes against Sceptile, however, like the aforementioned drop of more competition in Celebi, and the overall increase in usage of specially defensive Steel-types like Bronzong and Escavalier to combat the recent drops which isn't the best for Sceptile, as well as the trend of Blissey being seen slightly more on balance and Crobat getting more usage. So overall against Sceptile dropping and feel it fits fine where it is currently.

 

[Hilomilo]

Nominating Milotic to go from B+ to B
Okay, this thread has been insufferably inactive lately, so I'm going to take a bit of a risk and ask why Milotic is still in B+? UU is a tier filled to the brim with bulky water types, and aside from marvel scale, it seems to me like every bulky water type in the tier has something that Milotic doesn't. Tentacruel also has haze, but can also provide utility through rapid spin and toxic spikes, and Suicune is generally a better rest talker due to its access to many viable options in roar, calm mind, scald and ice beam, thus leaving it more unpredictable than Milotic. Alo has access to both wish and regenerator, which allows it to heal both itself and a teammate in the same turn, and Empoleon and Swampert have better offensive presences and access to stealth rock. Overall, while Milotic's neutralities to some of the above mentioned pokemon and its access to recover help it to stand out, I really don't think any niche it has over any other bulky water above B+ is enough to justify its rank. It's also just plain silly to me to see it share a rank with a bulkier pure water in Alomomola, and let's not forget that 3 of the most popular pokemon in the meta in Celebi, Conkeldurr and Sylveon give it a considerable amount of trouble in 1v1 situations.

 

[Schpoonman]

Milo is already ranked below literally all of those (including ranked below Alo in B+) so I'm not sure why you think it should fall further. It's one of the few Pokemon in UU that can be said to counter Entei, while Tentacruel and Empoleon both fail to wall it (252/252+ Tentacruel is 3HKO'd by Sacred Fire assuming the first burns, so it can't reliably switch in). Between Haze, Dragon Tail, and its excellent natural bulk it's basically impossible to set up on. If you switch Haze Tentacruel into SubDD Gyarados, you just start getting Bounced on and there's little you can do but either Protect (a poor option, Tentacruel needs those move slots) or hope Bounce misses. Milotic Hazes away its boosts and then heals the damage while actually having a fighting chance of keeping it from setting up thanks to Ice Beam breaking Sub in two turns compared to the three that Tentacruel needs with Scald.

Just look at Milo's UUPL record. It was one of the best Pokemon used and rightfully skyrocketed up in rank. Yes, it's not as bulky as Suicune or Alo, offers a little less utility than Tentacruel, and has worse offensive presence than Empoleon or Swampert, but that's why it's B+ and not S, because it offers insane role compression that none of the above truly can.

 

[Hilomilo]

I'm already aware of the fact that Milo is ranked below all of those pokemon, but I think that it should be in a rank apart from Alo. And I wouldn't say that none of the other bulky waters compare to Milotic in terms of role compression. I already discussed Tentacruel's ability to both haze stat changes away AND provide teams with hazard control and toxic spikes. That sounds like role compression to me. On the other hand, you have Suicune, who has a multitude of sets that are usually some combination of calm mind, rest, scald, roar and sleep talk, which, as its both phasing and sweeping, is role compression from a bulky water type. I understand that Milotic's kind of role compression is different than other bulky waters to an extent, but we have better Entei checks and stops to set up sweepers with the same typing (i.e. Suicune and defensive Gyarados), which is why I don't think it has a place in B+ as opposed to the other water type there.

 

[bsu]

honestly what shpooman said was pretty on point, its like each bulky water has its own niche, and milotic kinda combines a lot of them with alo and suicunes "reliable" recovery, tentacruel's haze and suicunes roar, and alo and suicines much better reliability in counter/check- ing fire types, which in itself gives milotic its own little niche

also alo is passive as hell and loses to any sub setup pokemon

 

[citro]

I've used Milotic a lot and to me it's certainly a B+ rank mon at least. I think we have really different definitions of role compression, "role compression" in my perspective is when a Pokemon offers several things which a team actually /needs/, in UU this is an Entei switch-in, Hydrei switch-in, hazard removal usually, Sylv switch-in etc. So bringing up Tentacruel's T-Spikes as an example of role compression is puzzling to me because it's not often you're deciding the last Pokemon to put on a team and think "I definitely need T-Spikes". Tenta is a good Pokemon but honestly, besides Rapid Spin, it has some aspects which run against role compression because it's the most physically fragile defensive Water-type in the tier while lacking recovery, which means you often have to pack secondary checks to things like Entei, Gyara, etc.

Also I just calced and Milotic actually breaks 0/0 Gyara's Substitute with two Scalds 100% of the time, while Tenta breaks it very rarely.

calc

0 SpA Milotic Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 43-51 (12.9 - 15.4%) -- possible 7HKO

0 SpA Tentacruel Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 36-42 (10.8 - 12.6%) -- possible 8HKO

Alo is in a good position right now and so is Milotic imo, Milo is way more self-sufficient with its one turn recovery, access to Haze, and having 1 extra move to actually run Haze or Ice Beam or Dragon Tail because no WishTect. Plus there's its extra special bulk and better offensive stats, so it's less of a free-turn machine. For teams that don't need Wish support or have it somewhere else (ie Sylv) Milo is imo a much stronger choice.

And comparisons to Swampert and Empoleon are immediately hindered by their unreliability in checking Entei. Suicune is definitely a better pokemon overall, but if you discount the CM sets which Milo doesn't compete with, there are a lot of situations where I'd rather have Milo than RoarCune (Suicune having to fall asleep to recover makes it a less safe bet against some offense teams, like ones with breakers + HC Aero or w/e)


Edit @ Hogg's post below:

Cress, Reuniclus, Gyarados and Suicune are still very much in the meta, and Salamence's ban raised Milo's relative viability as well as lowering it, because it narrowed the pool of viable Entei switch-ins on balance/BO even more. Using any bulky Water is less good now that we have Celebi, but Milo is one of the only bulky Waters that can at least annoy Celebi on the switch-in (with Ice Beam dealing a nice >40%) without extremely compromising its matchup against most other teams/Pokemon (something like Signal Beam Suicune). I'm not sure where you thought Milo was in Mence meta (crazy good sounds like A- at least), but in this meta I think it's absolutely B+ level

 

[Hogg]

Milo definitely suffers a little bit this meta. It became a thing because it had the ability to check so much in one slot - both physical and special Mence sets, Gyarados, slower CM boosters like Florges/Cress/Reuniclus/Suicune, etc. - without relying on Scald burns, like many other Waters. It was invaluable to bulky offense because it could compress a whole lot of checks into one teamslot.

It can still do all that, but the departure of Salamence, the major decline of Florges and the increase of new threats that Milotic struggles with (Celebi in particular) means that Milotic isn't as useful as it once was. It still works; one-turn recovery and passable Special Attack means it can fit Ice Beam and Haze onto its moveslot, something that Alomomola or Suicune would kill to be able to do. But it's not as crazy good as it used to be.

 

[Century Express]

Forry for B+ sounds fine for me. Yes, i know it's a anemic and useless ass Forry, but his role compression is too good to ignore. Skipping its duties of checking specific threats like Slurpuff, Haxorus and Aero, Forry is pretty much a jack off all trades; it spins, lays spikes or tspikes, (spikes distribution ain't that good imo), acts as a pivot, and gives a decent amount of resistances in one slot, and probably nothing in this metagame is capable of filling all of these roles. But it's kinda messy to rely on it vs. some threats. Even if you run full SpD, you're a Fairy-resist which fails to check Sylveon (and this is super annoying because Sylveon is a top usage 'mon), unlike Bronzong or Registeel, and if you drop some Defense, stuff like Mamoswine or SubSD Cobalion are going to waltz on your team, so it /forces/ a couple of forms of support (Wish or another form of utility or revenge killing, or extra resistances or walls vs. Fairy-types or Dragon-types due to his terrible consistency vs. Hydreigon or Sylveon, when you compare it to other Steel-type like Empoleon, Cobalion).

It's a interesting dude to pull some tricks, though. If a Chandy for example invites a spinblock, you can pivot it into Krook or Aero to Pursuit, while other teammates (like Whimsicott or wallbreakers) appreciates a lot his slow Volt Switch, allowing Forry to counterplay Celebi or CM Sylveon thanks to his resistances. It's a good slot to fill some holes for some Balance / Semistall teams when you don't play with it to sap your momentum (getting paranoid with spinning, or laying Toxic Spikes when the opponent has a Tentacruel or Mega Bee to absorb it).

 

[Pearl]

Update! Not as many changes this time around, considering that the rankings are already fairly accurate for the most part, but here we go:

• Celebi switches places with Mega Aerodactyl in S rank
• Tentacruel moved up from A- to A
• Kyurem moved up from B+ to A-
• Forretress moved up from B to B+
• Espeon moved up from B- to B
• Sableye moved down from A- to B+
• Chandelure moved down from B+ to B

Most of these have been discussed in the thread already, so I believe that there's no need for me to explain much. I'll still do it if requested though. As for moving Celebi even higher in S, me and other players feel that it is easily the second best Pokemon in UU right now behind Hydreigon, so there's that. In Tentacruel's case, Omfuga sums it up flawlessly in his post. Even though Tentacruel isn't actually that good in comparison to other high ranked threats, being a Pokemon with access to Rapid Spin coupled with a good typing and passable base stats means that it fits on a vast amount of teams in the current metagame, which makes it worth bumping up in my eyes.

As for this week's nominations:

• Alomomola moving up to A- (haha, I did it! The absolute madman!)
• Blissey moving up to B+ (did it again! And this time i'mma make you scream!)
• Heliolisk moving up to B+
• Arcanine moving up to B+
• Milotic moving down to B
• Mega Houndoom moving down to B
• Dragalge moving down to B-

A lot of focus in the B ranks this time around! Alomomola saw a lot of usage (with decent success) in open, and its ability to pass massive Wishes while staying relatively healthy itself is incredibly valuable and makes its teammates a lot harder to deal with. It has some exploitable weaknesses though, which compromise its viability. Blissey is a staple on UU stall and even some balance teams benefit from its presence, since the ability to take on pretty much every specially oriented Pokemon in the tier while also having access to some pretty neat support moves is huge. Heliolisk is a massive threat to the standard bulky offensive cores, considering that Krookodile and Swampert are the premier Electric-type immunities in the tier right now and both drop to the appropriate coverage move. A neat tech that Hogg has taught me about (sorry for leaking your strategies I guess!) is that Heliolisk can run Signal Beam to OHKO opposing Celebi, which obviously comes in handy. Arcanine is a good example of how valuable role hybridization (compression) is: it's one of the most solid Entei checks in UU while also being able to check Sylveon, pivot into weaker physical attackers with Intimidate and spread status around. Milotic has already been discussed but I'd still like to hear some more opinions on it. As for the two drop nominations: the metagame is unkind to both of them, with Mega Houndoom having to compete with other Mega evolutions and Fire-type Pokemon for a slot while also being really weak to the best Pokemon in the tier on top of that (even though it's true that it beats most Celebi sets). Dragalge is on the same boat, with Tentacruel being the superior Toxic Spikes setter and both Kyurem and Hydreigon having deadlier Choice Specs sets (even though Dragalge hits harder than both thanks to its ability, having a much lower speed tier makes it a lot easier to punish).

Have a good evening and happy posting! Let me know if I made any mistakes editing the thread please n_n

 

[YouthBerry]

I'd like to Nominate Conkeldurr for A+. Conk has really found it's spot in UU as the perfect fighting type, boasting terrific bulk, great coverage/movepool giving it no almost no fool proof counters, and multiple abilities to abuse giving it variety of sets making it tough to counter until it's potentially too late. Because of this, it can fit on pretty well every team and function very effectively. The set I think that pushes it into A+ is the bulk up set which destroys stall and balance builds lacking Sylveon or Cresselia or flying types like Offensive Crobat and Tornadus (hit that hurricane!) and Moltres (hit that hurricane!). The fact that it doesn't mind status and actually abuses it makes dealing with Conkeldurr unlike many other threats in the tier. It also can effectively run Assault vest sets to provide a consistent counter to the many bulky waters in the tier utilizing scald burns to it's advantage. It even takes on the likes of Hydreigon and Kyurem with that added special bulk. This set allows it to run coverage options like poison jab for fairies or thunder punch for Tentacruel and Crobat or Ice punch for Gligar. Finally Conk is able to run a very effective Choice Band set with Iron Fish as an ability that is super hard to switch into...Band Hammer Arm bops things! Add in the great coverage options mentioned above for counters and even valuable priority in Mach punch and it is a whole new threat! I've seen Conk put in a ton of work lately and actually feel it's pretty broken in the current tier. It deserves a bump up in the viability ranks imo.

 

[Hilomilo]

I'm going to possibly go out on a limb in saying that I don't think Alomomola warrants a rise just yet. It's got stellar bulk, regenerator and a massive hp stat to pass wishes with while healing itself, but if there's one thing that's to keep it from rising, it's the fact that it is SO damn passive. Some of the more common set up sweepers in Sub DD Gyarados, BU Conk, SD Heracross, SD/NP Toxicroak, and Crocune are able to take total advantage of it, which can seriously hinder Alo's teammates.

Blissey's been steadily getting better with the rise of special wall breakers in Hydreigon, Sylveon and Reuniclus, but it's similar to Alo in that its a little easy to be taken advantage of by the above mentioned set up sweepers, though thunder wave and seismic toss help out a bit in that department. I guess I'm on the fence with this one, but it definitely says something if Blissey is part of the reason we've been seeing superpower on Hydreigon more often.

Heliolisk is another one that I'm kind of on the fence with. On one hand, you have possibly the metagame's best possible check to bulky waters and the ability to break past its checks, but on the other you have 62/52 physical bulk and a myriad of both ground and fighting types. While you could argue that its able to use its coverage to hit its ground type checks, grass knot fails to ohko Krookodile even after rocks, and if you choose to run surf, hyper voice is the better option vs. Swampert before it flat out ohkos (and it doesn't have any coverage for fighting types). Really don't know with this one, but leaning towards a disagree.

Arcanine is absolutely one of the better mons in B atm, but if it were to rise, which I think could definitely happen, it should probably be one of the lower mons in B+. Its a great check to both Entei and Celebi, and its access to reliable recovery, will o wisp and intimidate make it a high B+ mon on paper, but what I think should keep it towards the end of the subrank pack is its weakness to stealth rocks, which is rather undesirable for a defensive mon, and the fact that Sylveon's most common partner in Krookodile looks at Arcanine like a meal if it comes in after it.

I've already expressed my opinion on Milotic, but I disagree with the drop of Mega Houndoom and am on the fence with Dragalge. Despite competing for a mega slot, Mega Houndoom still has a lot to love for a fire AND dark type atm. It's one of the fastest pokemon in the tier, matches up well against Celebi, and has a whopping base 140 special attack stat that it can use to plow through anything that doesn't resist its dual stabs. As for Sylveon/Florges, I usually run sludge bomb since it gets the job done in terms of luring. As for Dragalge, while it does have stiff competition from other dragon type specs users, the sheer power of its adaptability boosted stabs against anything that doesn't resist them and its decent bulk is almost enough in my eyes to lean towards disagree, though again, both Hydra and Kyurem pressure it, and Celebi and psyshock Sylveon don't do it a TON of favors.

 

[Rcook]

Alomomola should move up to A- because it has a great defensive typing, scald, knock off, can pass huge wishes, and best off all Regen. They may not be as big as Blissey's and it might not have the defenses of Suicune, but it has things that make not a knock off of either of them which I have listed before. This thing can take teams off guard because it can switch around pretty nicely with either set it has.

Blissey moving up I can see as it walls every special attacker ever and can take a superpower from Hydreigon and it can switch in and pass huge wishes, and gets reliable damage and seismic toss.

I haven't used Helio much but I know it has decent spatk, a nice speed tier, and some good moves. Along with dry skin allowing it to switch in on scalds. It could see a move up.

Arcanine should move up. It can run a defensive set with intimadate + willo and max spdef, and can run a scarf, LO, and banded set. It can be easy to tell what set it will be running (Offensive or Defensive) and gets an attack boost off of knock off with Justified.

Milotic isn't very good because there is little reason to use it over Suicune

Mega Houndoom should drop because it loses to scard Meinshao and Machamp, along with Mega Aero, and being week to stealth rocks, it also lacks coverage.

I disagree with the Dragaglge as it can hit hard with Adaptibility and can make it so the other team has to sack a mon to it because they can't switch out, the damage would be to sever, Draco + Sludge Wave + HP fire can put a big dent the opposing team.

 

[warzoid]

I think Heliolisk can stay where it is. It has always been good versus certain offense builds, but it's frail and non-specs Heliolisk can get stalled out by Suicune barring a crit. Celebi hurts its viability too, because even if it runs Signal Beam it still has to give up Hyper Voice, allowing Nidoqueen and Gligar to switch in against it.

Dragalge should drop. It suffers from metagame trends such as Metagross and specially defensive Registeel Empoleon. Being a poison type that can't switch into Sylveon's Hyper Voice doesn't help either.

Also, does Druddigon deserve to be ranked? It has a couple cool of things like Glare and Gunk Shot, but it lacks good physical resistances and its bulk isn't anything special. I've never considered using it when teambuilding, and I've never seen it used either apart from that one SPL match.

 

[Hogg]

I think Heliolisk can stay where it is. It has always been good versus certain offense builds, but it's frail and non-specs Heliolisk can get stalled out by Suicune barring a crit. Celebi hurts its viability too, because even if it runs Signal Beam it still has to give up Hyper Voice, allowing Nidoqueen and Gligar to switch in against it.

For the record, I run Volt Switch/Thunderbolt/Hyper Voice/Signal Beam on Heliolisk atm. I also think that Specs is absolutely the way to go with Heliolisk.

 

[palkia246]

Alomomola should move up to A- because it has a great defensive typing, scald, knock off, can pass huge wishes, and best off all Regen. They may not be as big as Blissey's and it might not have the defenses of Suicune, but it has things that make not a knock off of either of them which I have listed before. This thing can take teams off guard because it can switch around pretty nicely with either set it has.

Blissey moving up I can see as it walls every special attacker ever and can take a superpower from Hydreigon and it can switch in and pass huge wishes, and gets reliable damage and seismic toss.

I haven't used Helio much but I know it has decent spatk, a nice speed tier, and some good moves. Along with dry skin allowing it to switch in on scalds. It could see a move up.

Arcanine should move up. It can run a defensive set with intimadate + willo and max spdef, and can run a scarf, LO, and banded set. It can be easy to tell what set it will be running (Offensive or Defensive) and gets an attack boost off of knock off with Justified.

Milotic isn't very good because there is little reason to use it over Suicune

Mega Houndoom should drop because it loses to scard Meinshao and Machamp, along with Mega Aero, and being week to stealth rocks, it also lacks coverage.

I disagree with the Dragaglge as it can hit hard with Adaptibility and can make it so the other team has to sack a mon to it because they can't switch out, the damage would be to sever, Draco + Sludge Wave + HP fire can put a big dent the opposing team.

While I agree with some of your opinions on where things should move, some of your reasonings are a little iffy, and you aren't really taking any of the pokemons' flaws/upsides into account. Alo's biggest flaws are its passiveness and the fact that it can suck up momentum sometimes, and without touching up on that, it seems as though the thing should jump to A- asap (I personally disagree with the noms since I don't think its flaws are outweighed enough by its perks). You were mostly right with Blissey, though that defense vs the tier's ubiquitous fighting types shouldn't go unnoticed. Heliolisk's big thing is that it suffers from 4-moveslot syndrome and doesn't match up well against certain things due to that, which is why I don't think it should drop. Arcanine's offensive sets are almost entirely outclassed by the likes of Infernape and Entei, and even if running an offensive Arcanine, you should be using intimidate or flash fire. Your reasonings for Milotic and Mega Houndoom were really lackluster tbh, since Milotic's a better Gyarados/CM User check than Suicune and isn't dropping just due to how it compares to Cune (I agree with its nom but don't think it should be compared to just Cune), and because stating what a pokemon is weak to isn't at all why they should drop. Celebi's weak to Mega Beedrill and Entei, so should that drop too? (Machamp just gives everyone trouble btw) Your Dragalge argument was pretty solid though, and I am going to say that I don't think it should drop (STAB coverage alone hits a lot of the tier really hard and it can take hits when it needs to).

 

[LeoLancaster]

to B+: Agreed. Meta trends have been really favorable towards Arcanine, with the drops of Sylveon and Celebi and the subsequent shifts in defensive cores making it more valuable in what it can check and how easy it is to fit on a team. Sylveon's drop of course makes sturdy Fairy resists much more important in defensive cores, a role Arcanine fills well. Notably, it's also one of the few Sylveon checks that both has reliable recovery and isn't too scared of Krook due to Willo discouraging it from coming in and not being weak to Pursuit. Beyond that, Sylveon and Celebi's presence have also made bulky Steel-types a much more common sight, giving Arcanine more opportunities to come in and spread status. Many of Arcanine's best partners have also risen recently, with Tentacruel and Forretress as the most notable examples; both provide much-needed hazard control and a secondary Fairy resist, while Arcanine provides a solid Entei check (which Tenta struggles to deal with and Forretress straight up hates). And of course, Intimidate + status spreading is good utility.

I think a good comparison is Diancie, which is similar in the sense of having a unique and often valuable combination of threats it can check (Hydrei/Entei/Crobat for Diancie, Sylveon/Entei/Steels for Arcanine), while also offering good utility. Arcanine is definitely a cut above Diancie in that regard thanks to reliable recovery and being easier to fit onto common team structures, which makes me believe it deserves B+.

 

[Heroes and Cons]

I honestly feel like Entei could rise to S rank (though it would be the lowest in rank). It might have a couple of issues, but its insane splashability, the pressure it puts on teambuilding (especially offensive teams) and its great bulk for an offensive mon are all serious things to consider... not to mention the general lack of safe switch-ins to the 50% burn rate and massive power of STAB Sacred Fire; Extremespeed even allows it to take out weakened checks reliably no matter how fast they are. It almost restricts teambuilding to the point that if you don't have a Hydreigon, Suicune or the uncommon Alomomola on your team at high HP, you might as well throw in the towel there and then.
The worst part of all this is that most of its checks, like Aero and Krook, cannot switch in at all for fear of a Burn.

I'm kinda new to this whole thing though so I'm just interested in seeing what other, more experienced players feel about Entei.

 

[Threw]

Hi, so I was looking at the VR to try to find something interesting to build with and I realized I haven't actually looked at the rankings in weeks. A couple things stuck out to me as out of place, so here are a few noms.

Mega Sharpedo --> A-

Mega Sharpedo has been mediocre for a while now, and now that Conk and cleric Sylv have emerged as huge powerhouses, it's overdue for a drop. Every other mon in A is either much more threatening for numerous playstyles to handle or provides a significant amount of utility or both, while Mega Shark effectively threatens all of one playstyle, has zero defensive utility, requires an absurd amount of team support and only has one opportunity to clean. On top of that, it's honestly difficult not to build offense with a least a couple decent answers to this thing, whether it be Cobalion, any Intimidate user, Haze Tenta, etc. While it's still a very threatening mon under the right circumstances, I think A- is a more accurate depiction of its viability because it is so limited in terms of when and where it's effective in the current meta.

Mega Houndoom --> B

I think Mega Doomer should drop as well. Everything else in B+ is actually excellent while Mega Houndoom is something that I haven't seen sported on a serious team in I don't know how long (kinda applies to Gatr and Rose as well but I actually still like the former, and the latter just does certain things that nothing else does, even if it doesn't do them particularly well). While it can be surprisingly threatening to your typical Water-Steel-Fairy balance cores once they're chipped a bit, Tentacruel and AV Conk (any Conk really, since it can't do anything but trade until Conk is taken care of completely) on offense as well as Blissey on balance being so common now hurts it a lot. And it goes without saying that its offense matchup has always been less than stellar because of Hydreigon and how easily it's revenged by a multitude of threats due to its mediocre bulk, several weaknesses, and great-but-not-amazing Speed. I see it right at home with the offensive B-rank Megas, which can both be very effective and even downright scary against unprepared teams, which aren't as few and far between as people might think.

I also don't really get P2 and Mandibuzz in B but I don't feel like delving into those oo

 

[MeowMiXXX]

hello friends

I would like to nominate Delibird for C.

While Delibird's typing leaves much to be desired defensively, it's offensive potential and surprise factor give it an interesting niche in UU. Hustle effectively gives Delibird approximately 12,000 atk before factoring in CB or LO, and if you're using LO you can take it one step further with PuP. It gets a host of great coverage moves, including Seed Bomb for all the bulky waters that infest the tier, FOCUS PUNCH for steels like Cobalion, and Ice Shard for useful prio, in addition to its general Ice/Flying STAB attacks. It also has a couple of nifty gimmicks that can support the team, most notably Destiny Bond (because let's face it, Delibird isn't living long).

It's SR weakness can be debilitating, yes, but with the right support, it can be a menace to the bulky offense and balance teams that are literally everywhere in today's metagame. If you need proof, here's a great replay of Santa being used to its fullest potential.

 

[MaroGod]

hello friends

I would like to nominate Delibird for C.

While Delibird's typing leaves much to be desired defensively, it's offensive potential and surprise factor give it an interesting niche in UU. Hustle effectively gives Delibird approximately 12,000 atk before factoring in CB or LO, and if you're using LO you can take it one step further with PuP. It gets a host of great coverage moves, including Seed Bomb for all the bulky waters that infest the tier, FOCUS PUNCH for steels like Cobalion, and Ice Shard for useful prio, in addition to its general Ice/Flying STAB attacks. It also has a couple of nifty gimmicks that can support the team, most notably Destiny Bond (because let's face it, Delibird isn't living long).

It's SR weakness can be debilitating, yes, but with the right support, it can be a menace to the bulky offense and balance teams that are literally everywhere in today's metagame. If you need proof, here's a great replay of Santa being used to its fullest potential.

great nom

no