Noms
Agility passers (Ariados, Aipom, Ledian) to C+/B-
The niche they offer is pretty great and they can steamroll teams: pair very well with belly drummers
I haven't seen sufficient evidence to suggest this is true yet. In the
tournament stats, Aipom and Ariados only won 1/3 games each and Ledian won the single game it was used in. To be fair though, most other B- or C+ Pokemon had equally bad (or worse) showings.
Golduck: B+ -> A-
With Feraligatr gone, Golduck is by far the best Water type in the tier, and while it's nowhere near as good as gatr was, its higher special attack, speed and access to hypnosis still give it a pretty good role as an attacker, given it's coverage
I disagree with your first assertion, I think Poliwrath is better. However, I don't oppose to potentially moving it up, since there are fewer answers to it than before.
Rapidash: A- -> A
Imo the best lead in the tier after pineco
I ran Fire blast, Sunny day, Hypnosis and Substitute
Basically you wanna substitute to avoid getting exploded on or surfed on, then go sunny day to counter non HP ground raichu
Fire blast is it's bread and butter, and hypnosis is always nice to have but you can switch it out for double edge or HP ground
I don't think it's quite A material, but I would support this moving up above Kingler, Flareon, and Sudowoodo.
Dugtrio: A -> A+
This thing's kinda broken tbh
It's the fastest thing in the tier by a large margine, and with feraligatr gone it has really few checks and no counters (even raichu has counters, namely this thing and the next nom)
It also doesn't get 0hko'd by surf raichu on the switch in, and the substitute set can easily come in on any resttalk set and have a pretty good chance of not getting hit by surf (if it runs it)
Even if you switch the raichu out for a flying type, you can just screech and (if it hits), force a switch out again
I like to run both those moves instead of Sludge Bomb, but the fact that it has access to that (and that most people run it) make it truly hard to stop, at best there's the tanky normals, parasect and tanky fightings, but even they get chipped twice by subtrio before the switch out, and they can be forced out by screech
Dugtrio should move up to A+. I would personally put it above Xatu, but below Weezing, but I think you can argue for just about any order of the three. Xatu is pesky Pokemon to face that offers quite a bit in terms of offensive utility (I personally prefer a Thief variant), Weezing is a phenomenal non-passive tank that almost always carries its weight in the long-haul while also walling a significant portion of the physically attacking metagame, and Dugtrio is one of the fastest Pokemon in the metagame while hitting decently hard with reliable Ground (STAB) + Rock coverage and other utility options for extra inconvenience being added to potential checks/counters attempting to put a stop to Dugtrio. I have not played much at all since the Gatr ban, but that has to have made Dugtrio significantly better as Rest Gatr was the main full-stop to Dugtrio, leaving it much less consistently checked unless some Grass types suddenly pick up, which also will likely be less convenient to use with the lack of Gatr in the current metagame, too. Overall, I think all three of these are "top tier" and despite clearly being below Raichu, are the undeniable #2-4 in the metagame, being a notch above the number of respectable A rank options.
I totally agree, Dugtrio is excellent right now. It was already good and the Gatr ban made it even better.
Pineco should move up in A rank, but not quite to A+ rank. I know that inter-rank order does not matter a ton, but I see that it is numbered and I think that Pineco belongs above everything currently in A besides Graveler. It is not exactly a "good" Pokemon -- hell, it takes a metric fuckton from most special attacks and generates direct offense only through Explosion or pathetic chip/crippling, essentially. HOWEVER, it has the godsend known as Spikes, which shoots it up the ranks all the way to near the top of A, imo. Spikes teams are pretty solid, needless to say, and Pineco is a staple on them. It also provides general utility of course and can even Explode in a pinch, so I guess that's neat, too. Anyway, I am just pretty fond of these Pineco offenses and how a Spike can pressure things, especially when paired with Toxic/Roar throughout the team, which is something I personally frequented during the GSC NU tournament.
I think you are probably right, since the best physical wall is now gone and Pineco takes advantage of physical attackers. I don't object to this change.
Poliwrath should move down below Kingler in A- or all the way to B+. I really think that Kingler and Golduck provide more consistent offensive presences than Poliwrath and the role of defensive-behemoth left the realm of Water types with Gatr getting banned, seeing as it was unparalleled and the tier has other defensive measures we can now frequent with alternative cores probably, ideally measures that do not invite in Raichu and enable Xatu as much. I have only used Poliwrath on one team, but it was generally underwhelming and I found myself consistently threatened by opposing Kingler, who perhaps is underrated simply due to relatively small sample size (or maybe my teams were not sufficiently prepared for it? I'm not sure, but maybe a larger sample size over time will give me a more surefire direction on this front).
I strongly disagree here, defensive Poliwrath is good enough that it's more deserving of a rise more than a drop.
Gastly should move up to A-. Ok, I get that it's fucking Gastly. It's a pretty pathetic Pokemon. Ridiculously frail, not nearly as offensively potent as either of its evolutions, and just incapable of getting many kills individually. However, when paired with Spikes and status/crippling (i.e: Thief and/or significant chip), then it can really be a menace later in games given its speed tier and coverage. It also blocks Rapid Spin, making it a noteworthy option and natural synergetic pick to throw on Pineco Spikes offensive teams that I alluded to before. I think that it is more practical a pick than anything that currently resides in B+ and honestly is on par with the Fire types near the bottom of A-.
I think the improvement of several Pokemon Gastly is bad against (especially Dugtrio) will mean that we should wait and see on this one, although it's very useful to have against Pineco.
Other Pokemon that have improved post-Gatr ban
(these are not being moved yet - proposed movements in brackets)
Fearow (move up to below Graveler, A)
Gatr being replaced by Poliwrath on teams with more defensive cores strongly benefits Fearow. It seems especially effective with RestTalk, but could use Thief or Sub or HP Grass etc.
Poliwrath (move up to above Primeape, A)
Poliwrath is a very good replacement for Gatr on more defensive teams. It even has a better SpDef stat than Gatr had. It can use Restalk Surf Toxic or Restalk Surf EQ just like Gatr, although it has lower SpA and the meta can take advantage of it more due to Fighting typing, so it does not deserve S rank. It is a crucial presence for fighting the rise of Dugtrio.
Stantler (move up to above Sudowoodo, A-)
Stantler was underrated even before the Gatr ban, but Poliwrath replacing Gatr also benefits it. Stantler was probably slightly mismatched against Gatr, whereas it crushes Poliwrath in a RestTalk battle. Fearow kind of stomps it 1v1 though, and it's not so good against Pineco.
Pidgeot (move up to above Magmar, B+)
Pidgeot is both relatively powerful offensively and also valuable defensively, being (I think?) the EQ immune Pokemon that takes the least from Dugtrio's Rock Slide. While Gatr Surf 3HKOed if Pidgeot took a bit of D-E recoil, Poliwrath doesn't come close. Meanwhile, Magmar is even more useless with Poliwrath around more, since it tanks Tpunch even better than Gatr did.
Ivysaur (move to B-, and move Bayleef to C+ or lower)
I am not really sure how Bayleef ended up this much higher than Ivysaur, but I think Ivysaur is the better of the two thanks to its beneficial Poison typing. Most Dugtrio sets are better against Bayleef anyway (Sub Toxic or Sub SBomb).
Exeggcute (move to B-)
Exeggcute is one of the best Grass-types right now in my opinion. Despite its stats being on the low side, Psychic STAB and Explosion give it something that separates it from the rest, especially now that it has Poliwrath to take advantage of.
I'll be back with more once I've had an opportunity to play more.
Togetic
Voltorb
Charmeleon
Corsola
Pupitar
Weepinbell
Magcargo
Magnemite
Houndour
Onix
Rhyhorn
Wobbuffet
Butterfree
Snubbull
Skiploom
