Lower Tiers RU Viability Rankings Thread

[phantom]

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Art made by Bummer​

Welcome to the official RU Viability Rankings topic. In this thread, we as a community will rank every single usable Pokemon into ranks. In this thread, you're encouraged to post your thoughts and opinions on the various Pokemon that are usable in RU and what rank they should fall under. The general idea of the topic is to rank each RU Pokemon under "rankings" that go in descending order. Do note that this thread is simply a reference list and should not be treated any more than that.

New PKMN RANK:

S RANK:
The best of the best. Reserved for Pokemon who shape and define the RU metagame and are a clear-cut above the rest of the tier. These Pokemon are typically very powerful offensive threats that are difficult to prepare for and/or are phenomenal support and defensive threats that provide significant utility or defensive potential, respectively. Also the home of Pokemon who can easily perform multiple roles effectively, increasing their versatility and unpredictability. If the Pokemon in this rank have any flaws, those flaws are thoroughly mitigated by their substantial strengths.

Alomomola

Venusaur

Flygon

A RANK:
Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame and can perform well against most play styles, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. Supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time. Pokemon in this rank are also known to define the play styles they fit on or are easy to add on any given team, while being able to carry their weight nearly every match.

A+ Rank

Escavalier

Registeel

Virizion

Drapion

Sigilyph

Sneasel

Diancie

A Rank

Meloetta

Glalie (mega)

Slowking

Jellicent

Camerupt (mega)

Medicham

Rhyperior

A- Rank

Sawk

Magneton

Audino (mega)

Uxie

Absol

Blastoise

Scrafty

Jolteon

Aerodactyl

Emboar

B RANK:
Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche. Support Pokemon in this category have flaws that prevent them from doing their job, are setup bait for dangerous sweepers, or often give too many free turns. Pokemon who are partially outperformed or struggle with taking on the Pokemon in the A or S Rank, but are otherwise dangerous in their own right and aren't difficult to fit on teams, may also fall into this category.

B+ Rank

Braviary

Bronzong

Exploud

Granbull

Gurdurr

Hitmonlee

Houndoom

Rotom-Mow

Seismitoad

Steelix

Xatu

B Rank

Banette (mega)

Delphox

Fletchinder

Gallade

Garbodor

Hoopa

Malamar

Rotom

Spiritomb

Vivillon

Weezing

B- Rank

Abomasnow

Accelgor

Druddigon

Gourgeist XL

Hariyama

Mesprit

Musharna

Omastar

Piloswine
Torterra

Scyther

C RANK:
Reserved for Pokemon who can be effective in the right setting, but either have crippling flaws that prevent them from consistently executing their strategy or are completely eclipsed by a Pokemon in the above ranks. Pokemon in this rank typically require more extensive support, struggle performing against the Pokemon ranked above, and are difficult to fit on teams.

C+ Rank

Aggron

Aromatisse

Aurorus

Barbaracle

Clawitzer

Golbat

Lanturn

Poliwrath

Sceptile

Togetic

C Rank

Eelektross

Ferroseed

Hitmontop

Kabutops

Liepard

Ludicolo

Manectric

Pelipper

Quagsire

Qwilfish

Samurott

Skuntank

C- Rank

Archeops

Articuno

Cofagrigus

Jynx

Klinklang

Lilligant

Roselia

Rotom-S

Smeargle

MERU RANK aka BLACKLISTED aka D RANK:
The worst of the worst. Bad pkmn (RU Pokemon by usage that are bad will be listed here. Everything not listed also falls in here). Unviable Pokemon that have been repeatedly brought up in this thread, whether they're RU by usage or not, will also be listed here. Discussion on these Pokemon often tends to derail the thread, and therefore discussion on them is not allowed.

D Rank

Ambipom

Cinccino

D- Rank

Typhlosion

RULES:

• Don't derail the thread by asking "why did this move up/down". This is a discussion thread and posts like this don't contribute to the discussion. If you disagree about X Pokemon's placement, nominate it to move up/down. Similarly, do not derail the thread with other simple questions.
• Should you want to nominate something to be ranked that's not on the list, you must have 5 replays showing the Pokemon being used successfully vs good teams and it must have a distinguishable niche seen in these replays.
• If something didn't move up in the prior update, don't keep nominating it again and again unless a significant metagame shift occurs.
• You may not make a nomination post about reordering placements within Pokemon of the same rank; however, you may suggest where something should be placed if you nominate to rise above or down somewhere between the S and A ranks. For example, this is okay: "nominating X to A rank in between Pokemon Z and Pokemon Y", and this is not okay "Pokemon X in A rank should switch spots with Pokemon Y in A rank".

 

[Punchshroom]

If only there was a way to signify that Cinccino is better than its D Rank brethren (I have to somewhat concede that while it has improved, there's still not many particular reasons to use it without going out of your way), but what can ya do?

So I get that this mon has improved as well, but I am still very skeptical about the huge jump in rank. I'm going to be a bit more open this time and believe that Prankster Destiny Bond may not be the only reason to use this thing. Like I'm looking at MBanette and the new meta and think that maybe MNette has a small bit of stallbreaking merit as well:

Banette @ Banettite
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP(?) / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Knock Off
- Gunk Shot
- Taunt / Pain Split(?)

This is just a set I chalked up so I don't have an exact idea of the investment or some of the moves, but I can imagine this set being annoying for stall to handle: Wisp + Knock Off can cripple bulky stuff, especially Steel-types, Gunk Shot can crush the Fairy-type clerics + Tangrowth which would otherwise sponge Wisp + Knocks for the team for days, while Taunt can prevent shit like healing (Golbat's Roost, Registeel's Rest), status (Weezing & Gourgeist's Wisp, Registeel's TWave, Gourgeist's Leech Seed), Alomo's Wish, or other such shenanigans (Garbodor and Qwilfish's Spiking). I imagine Pain Split being an option for survivability against stall, especially Alomo. Meanwhile, Prankster Wisp keeps it relevant against offense and also makes it less vulnerable to Pursuit trapping than Hoopa is, albeit only slightly because no recovery.

Even with this slight versatility, I find MNette to still be plagued by its core issues. This stallbreaking set suffers from having no / unreliable means of healing which hinders its effectiveness, whereas predetermined turn order prior to Mega Evolving, bad Speed, and no good resists cause problems for the Destiny Bond set. Not to mention that Mega Banette also seems like the kind of mon to 'go out of your way' to use, since for a Mega, it is either not particularly specialized or struggles to be consistent. I'm not exactly vying for a Mega Banette drop (unless insufficient reasoning is provided), but I do want to know why and how Mega Banette is used to warrant this rank. Omfuga may chime in here.

 

[Omfuga]

Banette (Banette-Mega) @ Banettite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 Atk
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Knock Off
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp

Let me just clarify, this is the best banette set. The speed and HP EVs are blank because there's probably a more optimal spread than what I use, but 252 attack adamant is what's really important anyway. Sclaw + knock provides a strong STAB and a way to knock off items with slightly less power. Gunk shot can be used over sclaw but there's nothing that you need to hit with gunk shot; the coverage is pretty pointless and it's inaccurate and has 8 PP lol. Priority wisp is to cripple things like flygon trying to revenge you when you're left at low percents. Otherwise, wisp is good with knock to basically invalidate things like alomomola (burnt mola with no item is so easy to take advantage of). Shadow sneak is nothing short of vital on banette to do huge damage to offensive mons (OHKOing the likes of gallade and doing anywhere from 40-60% to the myriad of offensive pokemon in the tier). Nothing in the tier appreciates both knock and wisp, and sneak allows banette to revenge kill (also sclaw or knock + sneak KOs so much of the tier, whereas shadow claw just can't). These 3 moves are necessary, and shadow claw is just used to throw off a strong move other than knock off. As I said, gunk shot can be used, but it's pretty bad honestly.

 

[Punchshroom]

Gunk shot can be used over sclaw but there's nothing that you need to hit with gunk shot; the coverage is pretty pointless and it's inaccurate and has 8 PP lol.

Gunk Shot can crush the Fairy-type clerics + Tangrowth which would otherwise sponge Wisp + Knocks for the team for days

While we can both agree that Knock + Wisp is good on Mega Banette, can you at least not gloss over what makes Gunk Shot decent (like it literally helps bypass mons that otherwise stop one of your more favorable niches of MNette)? Plus Gunk Shot does a lot of damage to most Dark-types too. Also let's be real here: no way in hell is Mega Banette surviving long enough to deplete Gunk Shot's PP anyway, and 80~% accuracy hasn't deterred mons from using their strongest attack (Fire Blast Delphox / Houndoom, Stone Edge Aero).

On the other hand, if you find Gunk Shot bad, I find Shadow Claw close to worthless; your reasoning boils down to being 'a move you can just throw out', but Knock Off kind of accomplishes that role already and Shadow Claw's coverage ends up merely overlapping with Knock Off, as opposed to being able to win some matchups it otherwise could not, unlike Gunk Shot. Alternatively you could run Shadow Claw over Knock Off, but we both know that isn't a great option.

Your reasoning with Shadow Sneak is also very odd. Like ok it can OHKO Gallade, albeit only 1/4 of the time at best (252+ Atk Mega Banette Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Gallade: 242-288 (87.3 - 103.9%) -- 25% chance to OHKO), but how is doing only 40-60% to the rest of the offensive mons favorable when MNette is not likely to survive the turn? This is literally the kind of situation Destiny Bond is suited for. Hell, you won't even need Shadow Sneak to beat Gallade: you can just go for your oh-so-coveted Prankster Wisp to avoid the 2HKO [252 Atk Life Orb burned Gallade Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 56 Def Mega Banette: 107-126 (39.7 - 46.8%)] and just blast it away with Knock Off which does a minimum of 70%, easily enough after burn + 2 LO rounds. After beating Gallade, your near-dead MNette can still be primed to take out yet another mon with Prankster DBond. I fail to see how Shadow Sneak ever outperforms Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, or even Sucker Punch (at least that can OHKO Delphox and Sigilyph, and heavily damage Meloetta) a huge majority of the time.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

I disagree with Druddigon in B-, its viability got a boost with Mega Steelix banned as it lost what is probably its best check. The Life Orb set has very little safe switch ins thanks to its great coverage and Sheer Force. It can also run a great defensive set with Glare, Dragon Tail and either RestTalk or Stealth Rock and Earthquake. B+ / A- IMO.

I was also skeptical of Sawk being in A-, but I tried it out toady and holy shit it packs a wallop. Defensive Granbull, Spiritomb and the rare Weezing are just about the only Pokémon who can viably switch into it.

 

[Take Azelfie]

Abomasnow
B+ ---> A-
I use this Mon all the time and I don't think that there has been very many changes in the meta that affected Abomasnow besides that it can run EQ more effectively. Looking at all 3 S Ranks none of them can take Blizzard or Ice Shard depending on the investment. Blizzard is stupid lol and hail actually has a very important effect that a lot of people seem to skip over which is limit venusaur's recovery. Most of the time Venu can recover easily on stuff that it scares like mola but hail drops that 50% to a 25℅. Although the Venue vs Snow match up will also be shaky Hail alone constrains Venusaur. To sum it up Snow puts too much pressure on the opponent and limits one of the best Pokemon in the tier to not be somewhere in the A ranks

 

[Natan]

I was also skeptical of Sawk being in A-, but I tried it out toady and holy shit it packs a wallop. Defensive Granbull, Spiritomb and the rare Weezing are just about the only Pokémon who can viably switch into it.

Granbull isn't a safe switch, it can be 2HKOed by Poison Jab after Rocks or 2HKOed after Poison damage, and if Sawk don't 2HKO it, Granbull will be crippled for the rest of the entire battle unless you have a Healing Wish / Wish support.
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 162-192 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 162-192 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery and poison damage
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 162-192 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- 35.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Spiritomb is a switch but don't have any recovery and take more than 50% in the first Knock Off, Sawk can just switch (Spiritomb can at least break Sturdy thanks to Pursuit) and Weezing can be 2HKOed from Zen Headbutt. The main problem with Choice Band Sawk is it can't go through a core with a way of recovery to cover its weaknesses like Defensive Venusaur and Sigilyph, then Sawk won't be able to break though this core, Venusaur take 2HKO only to Zen Headbutt, Sigilyph only to Knock Off and Poison Jab, and they can recover then own HP with Synthesis and Roost respectively. But aside this, Sawk is really hard to check anyway. With Colbur Berry, Uxie is probably the best check to it, but it loses the only way to recover its own HP if don't run Leftovers.

 

[Miyami~~]

Mesprit: B -> B+
I think Mesprit is pretty good. It's not the exact same thing as Uxie, and they both play different roles. Mesprit, for instance, has higher attacking stats than Uxie, letting it actually deal more than piddling damage with either U-Turn or Dazzling Gleam, and making it a better user of the (bad but useable now) CM sets. Additionally, Healing Wish provides a ton of support for the teams its on, as it essentially allows one of your Pokémon to come in for free at full health. This is huge for any team, as while Memento lets your set-up sweeper get in the first time, Mesprit lets your wallbreaker/set-up sweeper/whatever you need get in again after it's taken a beating. This alone should be enough for it to be in B+.

Replay showcasing Healing wish: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/rususpecttest-380029802 (I realize my opponent was bad but that doesn't really affect what actually happened.)

Also, Cinccino is good enough for C-, but it's nearly midnight so I'm too tired to make a post that'll just get deleted anyways.

 

[Q10jj34eeDnK]

A to A+

Steelix-Mega and Tyrantrum being gone has given Glalie-Mega a lot more breathing room. Flygon and Venusaur have also been showing up more and both of them have also had viability spikes. It's matchup against the tier is incredible, with a surprising portion of RU being weak to Ice, and it even has Freeze Dry to take care of the Water types that would otherwise wall it, and Earthquake for Magneton/Registeel/Rhyperior which would otherwise wall it. It also is pretty fast for RU standards and RU doesn't have too many Spikers/Taunters atm.

 

[MANNAT]

Mega Glalie to A+
Seconding the Glalie nom, I've been abusing spikes Glalie during rult, and it frankly is amazing to pair with volturn and can really help in the matchup vs bulkier teams. Volturn is obviously really good right now with megalix's departure and the only really good splashable ground type that doesnt get donked on by banded u turn from scyther/flygon being rhyperior (camel is good, but it needs some team support to function well). When pairing it with powerful volturn users like scyther and mag that force a ton of switches, spikes stacking can be insanely useful since theres only like one mon in each tier of the top ranks that is immune to spikes and all of them are dunked on by mega glalie, bar Aero (fletch gets outsped and bodied if it tries wisping), and even that can't switch into glalie, and the rest of the mons can really get worn down quickly since they're forced to switch so much. Spikes when used in tandem with volturn strategies can wear down Glalie's usual checks really quickly since they're always pivoting around and blast through shit. Take Alomomola for example, if you can set up 3 layers of spikes and a layer of rocks (not that hard to do vs a fat team since most use flygon as hazard control), regen is completely negated and it actually loses a net 4% hp on switch ins, so they can't just sack mons to heal up and beat glalie, which is extremely nice and can come handy when forcing switches with like magneton and shit. Additionally, Glalie isn't forced to have to switch out and into rocks a bunch of times because it has to play mindgames with scarf ttrum trying to get it into ice shard range, which really helps its longevity. Lastly, the fact that venu and flygon are exploding in usage right now (at least form what ive seen) really helps glalie since it's the best revenge killer for flygon in the tier and can really threaten venu with refrig returns, and it can get slow pivoted in from mag so that it doesn't have to take uneeded damage. Overall, the departure of megalix, one of glalie's best counters, and tyrantrum, which was a headache to play mindgames with on offense, really helps Glalie in tandem with the fact that Glalie works really well with volturn due to it being able to lay spikes really easily just due to the sheer number of switches that it forces along with its ability to be an effective late game breaker vs bulkier teams after they have been weakened in the current metagame shows that it truly is deserving of A+ rank. (Sorry if this is kinda confusing, i was just talking about why I think glalie should move up)

 

[aurora]

Supporting the above noms. Like a lot of Pokemon, Tyrantrum and Mega Steelix leaving was huge for Mega Glalie, as they were two of its best checks.

Furthermore, in a similar vein to Mega Camerupt, Mega Steelix being gone means that there is now far less opportunity cost to running Mega Glalie than there was before, as Mega Steelix - like all Mega Pokemon - took up your Mega slot and made Mega Glalie ever so slightly more difficult to justify using. Now that both the allure and threat of Mega Steelix are gone, I support moving Mega Glalie to A+.

 

[col49]

ok, i feel xatu and gourgeist-xl can both stand to hop up a subrank.

i think that with hazard setters becoming more passive, the premise of xatu is much more enticing than it has been in quite some time, since it can much more readily provide that kinda 'indirect influence' a dude like duggy can in how certain mons are being played and ofc stymy spike-weaks w/o forcing a team to compromise on a subpar bulky water in blastoise (b.c that is the main reason its just ok, almost every team would theoretically be better w/good spinner + momo or w.e but not all of them can afford it so toise is therefore good enough) or run scarf defog gonner or what have you. between night shade and cm it can find itself pushing itself on almost every hazard setter sans rhyperior with reasonable consistency (i'm omitting camel b.c sr really is something you want to be delegating to something else when possible), and the u-turn potential on it is nice for keeping it flexible and malamar efficient. the primary con with it is gonna be that it really isn't fulfilling a defensive role super well in spite of the fact that it kinda needs to (+2 virizion edge still has a 50% chance of ohkoing max / max bold xatu, it won't be checking cham as something like uxie might, fast venu burns through it), and running it fast really cuts into the primary role it wants to be fulfilling, making it somewhat reliant on something like a dugtrio balance in order to play to its strengths, but i feel as tho it has a much more gainful niche in this meta than it has for some time.

as for gourgeist-xl, i think it just really does a ton of things really well atm. as a ghost-type, its physically bulky to the point of being able to switch into malamar effectively as to prevent it from netting boosts (something that gets reinforced by leech seed, which i would say has gotten really good on it lately for both decreasing its reliance on low-pp recovery via synth, boosting its gurdurr handle substantially, and helping to buffer out the inevitable exploud switches it can bait), and it is one of the most broadly effective fighter responses in the tier currently, being able to eat two lo zhb's from cham after sr w/a fuller phys.def spread. i wouldn't advocate dipping too heavy into spdef currently b.c cm virizion has been bad for over a year and people need to get over that already and this playing into something like venu is an iffy prospect from the gate, so yeah, going heavy on physical defense to make use of its stronger points is pretty feasible. furthermore, w/the trends of spikes-weak, non-foresight toise toting balances being pretty apparent, having a mon to capitalize is rather nice as well. give it a shot, it's really quite good. i've been using a set of synth / wisp / leech / foul play, for reference.

 

[Illusion's FTW]

Clawitzer C+ -> B-

Clawitzer has 120 Sp.Attack, has usable moves like Scald, Aura Sphere 120 BP after Mega Launcher, Dragon Pulse 128 BP, Dark Pulse 120 BP, Ice Beam, U-Turn and other good coverage to destroy foes that give it troube, the main flaw that this pokemon has is its 59 speed making top-tier threats decimate Clawitzer. However, it has decent bulk and good stats except its speed which btw is 59 but, on the bright side, it can both utilize Choice Scarf and Specs making it a threating wallbreaker and revenge killer outspeeding pokemon under 113 base speed which is phenomenal.

Heres a set that shows that Clawitzer can be a huge threat in RU.


Clawitzer -- Life Orb -- Clawitzer -- Choice Scarf
252 Sp.Attack/4 Sp.Def/252 Speed 252 Sp.Attack/
Move 1: Scald Move 1: U-Turn
Move 2: Ice Beam Move 2: Scald
Move 3: Aura Sphere Move 4: Ice Beam
Move 4: Dark Pulse Move 4: Aura Sphere

Modest Nature Timid Nature

Also, Clawitzer can damage threats in the B- Rank such as Scrafty, Druddigon, Piloswine, Musharna, Scyther, and Togetic.

In conclusion, I support Clawitzer going to B- and Glalie-Mega going to A+

Sincerily, Illusion

 

[EonX]

Showtime!

Abomasnow: I think Abomasnow is fine in B+ rank. Does that mean I think it's a bad Pokemon? Absolutely not. The problem for Abomasnow is not its ability to pressure teams or break down opposing walls. The problem for it lies in its performance against the top tier Pokemon. Sure, it revenge kills Flygon, but it can't switch-in very safely at all. Same with Virizion and Venusaur. Drop down to A+ rank and Alomomola is the only Pokemon it can "safely" switch into (i.e. not die to something) Sure, it can beat Diancie, but STAB Diamond Storm is a thing that Abomasnow can't handle. Lol Medicham (and Meloetta for that matter) and Slowking sometimes carries Fire Blast, which is an obvious problem for Abomasnow. Sigilyph almost always has Heat Wave (CM set has Air Slash) and it can't take 2 hits from Sneasel. Over to A rank and Blastoise is the only Pokemon that "lets" it in. Emboar is a decent offensive check and Registeel walls it pretty well unless it gets super unlucky. Obviously can't switch into Rhyperior or Mega Glalie (can beat Rhyperior if it gets in tho) Fletchinder, Drapion, and Magneton obviously just OHKO it before it does anything. While Abomasnow is a fantastic Pokemon, it struggles with a lot of the top tier Pokemon in RU, which is why I think it was moved down to B+ rank in the first place; not because of it being unable to wallbreak or threaten a myriad of Pokemon.

Mesprit: As much as I love Mesprit, there's a key thing holding it down right now. And that's the fact offensive teams need a reliable answer to Medicham. While you could run Spiritomb, it just lets in too many threats that offense (obviously) can't switch into at all. For this reason, Uxie is a much better fit on offensive teams right now because of the higher bulk and its ability to outspeed Life Orb (and Knocked Scarf Medichams) variants while still retaining the bulk to handle a couple of hits. Uxie's raw bulk also helps it be a one-time check to most powerful attackers for offensive teams, a lot like Cobalion's raw physical bulk helped it so much in XY (as well as its amazing typing) Much like Cobalion in XY, Uxie sets Rocks and builds momentum for offensive teams thanks to good Speed, solid bulk, and the right movepool to work with. Mesprit just doesn't have this. Its defenses are good, but not good enough to both withstand Medicham assaults and provide Healing Wish support. Because Mesprit has to run so much Speed, it really only switches into Medicham once before it's basically used up. As long as Uxie is sitting in B+ rank, I don't believe that Mesprit should move out of B rank. Healing Wish is great, but offensive teams need a way to beat Medicham, and Uxie does such a better job at this while still outspeeding most of the things Mesprit does.

Mega Glalie: Absolutely supporting this. Mega Glalie is, hands down, the best Spiker in the tier right now thanks to its ability to pressure the most common forms of entry hazard removal (Flygon and Blastoise) while also being able to capitalize on its own Spikes to break down defensive teams. Base 100 Speed is solid and gets the jump on quite a few offensive Pokemon (Venusaur, Meloetta, ties Flygon) Ice typing sucks defensively, but who needs defensive synergy when you should be using Glalie on offensive teams? It was starting to get good during the Mega Steelix metagame, but it just gets so much better now that it can use that last slot for Ice Shard or Explosion instead of something like Super Fang to do something with Mega Steelix. All around one of the best Pokemon in the tier right now and just loves that VoltTurn is returning with a vengeance. Easily A+ rank material.

Why is Ambipom not D- rank? That needs to happen imo

 

[Drangonn.]

Clawitzer C+ -> B-

Clawitzer has 120 Sp.Attack, has usable moves like Scald, Aura Sphere 120 BP after Mega Launcher, Dragon Pulse 128 BP, Dark Pulse 120 BP, Ice Beam, U-Turn and other good coverage to destroy foes that give it troube, the main flaw that this pokemon has is its 59 speed making top-tier threats decimate Clawitzer. However, it has decent bulk and good stats except its speed which btw is 59 but, on the bright side, it can both utilize Choice Scarf and Specs making it a threating wallbreaker and revenge killer outspeeding pokemon under 113 base speed which is phenomenal.

Heres a set that shows that Clawitzer can be a huge threat in RU.


Clawitzer -- Life Orb -- Clawitzer -- Choice Scarf
252 Sp.Attack/4 Sp.Def/252 Speed 252 Sp.Attack/
Move 1: Scald Move 1: U-Turn
Move 2: Ice Beam Move 2: Scald
Move 3: Aura Sphere Move 4: Ice Beam
Move 4: Dark Pulse Move 4: Aura Sphere

Modest Nature Timid Nature

Also, Clawitzer can damage threats in the B- Rank such as Scrafty, Druddigon, Piloswine, Musharna, Scyther, and Togetic.

In conclusion, I support Clawitzer going to B- and Glalie-Mega going to A+

Sincerily, Illusion

You seem to be disILLUSIONED about Clawitzer.

First of all, Life Orb Clawitzer is the best and only set. Choiced sets are easy to take advantage of and don't provide flexibility. Yeah, they're powerful, but their cons outweigh their pros severely.

Now, Claitzer shouldn't rise given the fect that bulky waters and grasses own the tier. Venusaur, Blastoise, Slowking, Alomomola, Virizion. They are the bane of Clawitzer's existence. They eat any attack it goes for, and they own the RU metagame. This makes Clawitzer's life extremely difficult. Because of this, choiced sets are bad because they do not provide the flexibility to hit these targets and switch moves as well, and can be easily played around. Clawitzer is extremely slow and is easily revenge killed. The fact that it can kill some threats in B- is not enough to justify a raise to B-.

Now, I'd like to see what people think of rasising Scyther to B rank.

Everyone is hyped for VoltTurn. It's big, it's back, and it's good. Really, really good. Scyther is a great utilizer of the move U-turn and serves a purpose as a fighting, grass, and Psychic check, all in one. Bug and Flying STAB is pretty good right now, as it hits the grass-types like Venusaur and Virizion that are forced to switch out fearing an AA and just catch a U-turn, Psychic-types like Meloetta and Uxie that have gotten better with lix's departure and scarfcham becoming the premier scarfer, and dark-types like Absol that are no longer forced to run Superpower to deal with lix. It's further aided by the fact that the premier hazard removers, Flygon and Hitmonlee, fit perfectly on VoltTurn. It synergizes well with common pokemon not just on vltturn, but on many playstyles, such as Seismitoad, Magneton, and Absol.

I may have missed something, but I think a Scyther rise to B should definitely be considered.

 

[lighthouses]

Venu and Virizion cant switch in as they take a huge ass chunk from ice beam, slowking takes a chunk from dark pulse and i have no idea why you even mentioned blastoise. The real issue is, to me at least, that claw is always hard walled by mola + something else, since you can usually pass a massive wish to one of ur grass types that otherwise arent able to switch in and clawitzer accomplishes nothing cept potentionally getting a scald burn on mola and being worn down by life orb. Although it is possible to 2hko mola after you get the burn AND rocks up its still p rough to justifty running it on a team since it provides little to no deffensive synergy.
I'm down w it being b- though, i feel like ppl undermine its ability to pressure ur common fat team a bit, it does need a ton of support though, but it and gourg xl are a lot better than every other mon in the c+ rankings imo

 

[Illusion's FTW]

Aggron B -> A-

You seem to be disILLUSIONED about Clawitzer.

First of all, Life Orb Clawitzer is the best and only set. Choiced sets are easy to take advantage of and don't provide flexibility. Yeah, they're powerful, but their cons outweigh their pros severely.

Now, Claitzer shouldn't rise given the fect that bulky waters and grasses own the tier. Venusaur, Blastoise, Slowking, Alomomola, Virizion. They are the bane of Clawitzer's existence. They eat any attack it goes for, and they own the RU metagame. This makes Clawitzer's life extremely difficult. Because of this, choiced sets are bad because they do not provide the flexibility to hit these targets and switch moves as well, and can be easily played around. Clawitzer is extremely slow and is easily revenge killed. The fact that it can kill some threats in B- is not enough to justify a raise to B-.

Now, I'd like to see what people think of rasising Scyther to B rank.

Everyone is hyped for VoltTurn. It's big, it's back, and it's good. Really, really good. Scyther is a great utilizer of the move U-turn and serves a purpose as a fighting, grass, and Psychic check, all in one. Bug and Flying STAB is pretty good right now, as it hits the grass-types like Venusaur and Virizion that are forced to switch out fearing an AA and just catch a U-turn, Psychic-types like Meloetta and Uxie that have gotten better with lix's departure and scarfcham becoming the premier scarfer, and dark-types like Absol that are no longer forced to run Superpower to deal with lix. It's further aided by the fact that the premier hazard removers, Flygon and Hitmonlee, fit perfectly on VoltTurn. It synergizes well with common pokemon not just on vltturn, but on many playstyles, such as Seismitoad, Magneton, and Absol.

I may have missed something, but I think a Scyther rise to B should definitely be considered.

Yea, nice pun. But Clawitzer can pull off VoltTurn cores with its capability of using U-Turn and its a really good wallbreaker w/ 88 def and 89 sp.def taking hits well.

 

[Kyuzeth]

Yea, nice pun. But Clawitzer can pull off VoltTurn cores with its capability of using U-Turn and its a really good wallbreaker w/ 88 def and 89 sp.def taking hits well.

The problem with Clawitzer is that it's got an awkward Speed tier. It's too slow for an offensive Pokémon, but there's slower Pokémon that it outspeeds, which is counterproductive to slow U-turn pivoting. As a wallbreaker, I'd say Samurott has more things going for it between priority and far greater set diversity. There's also the fact that both Venusaur and Virizion are on top of the meta at the moment and both, especially Virizion, can just eat Clawitzer alive, despite its access to Ice Beam.

Keep Clawitzer in C+.

 

[Bananaist]

So this is my first post for my account(For those who don't recognize me, I'm That Other Banana)! Anyways, a pokemon that I've liked since Mega-Steelix disappeared was Granbull. Basically what Granbull does is momentarily stop offensive momentum and allow other mons that aren't as bulky to switch in. With a full HP investment and intimidate, it is able to tank and switch into some really powerful attacks!

-1 176+ Atk Escavalier Iron Head vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 164-194 (42.8 - 50.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


-1 252 Atk Choice Band Flygon Iron Tail vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 158-186 (41.2 - 48.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


-1 96+ Atk Steelix Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 162-192 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 163-193 (42.5 - 50.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


-1 252 Atk Reckless Emboar Flare Blitz vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 130-154 (33.9 - 40.2%) -- 37.7% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


-1 252 Atk Refrigerate Mega Glalie Double-Edge vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 139-165 (36.2 - 43%) -- 97.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Defensive granbull forces physical attackers to either stay in and try to keep chipping away granbull's health or switch out and lose momentum. It can stop popular fighting types such as medicham, hitmonlee, gallade, gurdurr and hitmontop. However, it has trouble with extremely powerful attackers with coverage for fairies such as sawk, druddigon and m-bannette. It also has trouble with specially oriented attackers like meloetta,delphox, exploud and more. Despite these flaws, I believe that granbull merits a rank of B+. If I'm exaggerating granbull's defensive utility or misunderstanding it, please don't hesitate to tell me.

 

[Solgaleo]

Definitly agree with everything above, especially Granbull which should be moved to B+

Linoone: C- > C
I was not sure about Linoone in RU before i used it, and it worked pretty good, with Mega Steelix gone it has gotten another chance and he grapped it, even though Mega Banette can burn it due to its Prankster Will o wisp, it still breaks alot of walls after a Belly Drum, especially with both Light Screen and Reflect tho almost guarentee its Belly Drum, here are some calcs:

+5 252+ Atk Linoone Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Granbull: 288-340 (75 - 88.5%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

+6 252+ Atk Linoone Seed Bomb vs. 120 HP / 136+ Def Alomomola: 476-560 (95 - 111.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

+6 252+ Atk Linoone Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Spiritomb: 238-280 (78.2 - 92.1%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

+6 252+ Atk Linoone Extreme Speed vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Drapion: 352-415 (102.6 - 120.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+6 252+ Atk Linoone Extreme Speed vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Druddigon: 415-489 (115.9 - 136.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[BuzzkillAmpharos]

Is it just me or has Braviary improved? Braviary used to be having aches and pains with mons like Tyrantrum and Mega Lix. Not only that, but it found itself often running the choice scarf set to outspeed scarfed Tyrantrum simply just to beat it with Superpower. And with that it lost a lot of its power. Now, those two major headaches have left the RU tier. Braviary now has the power to run its banded or Bulk Up set with more things to now set up on. It can take advantage of mons rising in usage like Granbull with its Defiant ability. While it can also pair spectacularly well with a VoltTurn core and get in Mega Glalie for free. I just feel its banded and Sub Bulk Up set got so much better.

For example, with the Sub Bulk Up set it has a few defensive counters, one being Alomamola. However, it takes complete advantage of this with the Sub Bulk Up set. Alomamola doesn't even come close to breaking its sub.

0 SpA Alomomola Scald vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Braviary: 42-49 (10.3 - 12.1%) -- possibly the worst move ever

Now let's look at the wallbreaking potential of a Choice Banded set. Alomamola still is 2HKO'd. And don't get me wrong, I completely notice its weakness to the rising Mega Glalie and Scarfed Rotom-C, but look through the tier and with its moveset this thing has 0 switch ins. The leaving of Mega Lix and Tyrantrum make it so much easier to spam Brave Bird. And Rhyperior hates taking a Superpower.

252+ Atk Choice Band Braviary Superpower vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 247-292 (57 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Overall Braviary was already a monster, but it now has a lot more room to breathe with its Bulk Up and Banded sets taking advantage of many meta game trends. It loves the rise of Spikes teams and synergizes well with some new VoltTurn cores and can gain any team momentum.

Braviary to A-

 

[Illusion's FTW]

Is it just me or has Braviary improved? Braviary used to be having aches and pains with mons like Tyrantrum and Mega Lix. Not only that, but it found itself often running the choice scarf set to outspeed scarfed Tyrantrum simply just to beat it with Superpower. And with that it lost a lot of its power. Now, those two major headaches have left the RU tier. Braviary now has the power to run its banded or Bulk Up set with more things to now set up on. It can take advantage of mons rising in usage like Granbull with its Defiant ability. While it can also pair spectacularly well with a VoltTurn core and get in Mega Glalie for free. I just feel its banded and Sub Bulk Up set got so much better.

For example, with the Sub Bulk Up set it has a few defensive counters, one being Alomamola. However, it takes complete advantage of this with the Sub Bulk Up set. Alomamola doesn't even come close to breaking its sub.

0 SpA Alomomola Scald vs. 252 HP / 168+ SpD Braviary: 42-49 (10.3 - 12.1%) -- possibly the worst move ever

Now let's look at the wallbreaking potential of a Choice Banded set. Alomamola still is 2HKO'd. And don't get me wrong, I completely notice its weakness to the rising Mega Glalie and Scarfed Rotom-C, but look through the tier and with its moveset this thing has 0 switch ins. The leaving of Mega Lix and Tyrantrum make it so much easier to spam Brave Bird. And Rhyperior hates taking a Superpower.

252+ Atk Choice Band Braviary Superpower vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 247-292 (57 - 67.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Overall Braviary was already a monster, but it now has a lot more room to breathe with its Bulk Up and Banded sets taking advantage of many meta game trends. It loves the rise of Spikes teams and synergizes well with some new VoltTurn cores and can gain any team momentum.

Braviary to A-

While I do agree that Braviary has got better since the departure of Steelix-Mega and Tyrantrum, there are still mons capable of demolishing Braviary like Rhyperior, Magneton, Thunder Punch Medicham, Jolteon, Scarf'd Rotom-C, and Glalie-Mega. But, it's a good Flygon counter since Flygon runs the ever-present Defog it also is a good Venusaur and Virizion check and, if Medicham switches into it then it can also get checked but not by Pivoting. And it does seem I have mix feelings of Braviary, rising it too A- is a minor rise for it that will help it get more usage. Also, everything has checks too it so why bother what I said. Which is why I support this mon to A-.

 

[feen]

Braviary has definitely improved with the banning of Mega Steelix and Tyrantrum, especially the Sub Bulk Up set. It can set up on common RegiMola balance cores, because it has 101 HP Subs, so Seismic Toss can't break it. Moreover, it has great ability in Defiant, making Granbull a shaky check, which are used to deter setup sweepers on bulkier teams. Obviously its matchup versus offense aren't really that well, Braviary can still pressure balance and stall a lot. Its best counter is Magneton, but this Braviary set is usually seen on balance or stall teams, which should have one or two checks for Magneton. Moreover, checks of Braviary can't really switch in to it, as Brave Bird deals a lot of damage to them, and Braviary can beat them 1v1 if behind sub.

tl;dr Braviary can set up on a plethora of bulky Pokemon, can dismantle balance and stallier teams, and got better with Lix and Ttrum leaving the tier. Supporting rise to A- rank

 

[Laurens]

A to A+

This is coming from the same person that nominated Fletchinder to move from A to A-....... was it one or two months ago? Whatever, doesn't matter. That nomination was flawed (as most of mine are) and Fletchinder has improved since then slightly anyway.

Thing Number 1 is that Fletchinder has a priority move. This is not only makes it faster than most of the tier but it's also the most powerful priority move in the tier, 110 base power, even more when combined with STAB. This priority move is also super effective against Virizion and Venusaur, which are the two best Pokemon in the tier right now. The banning of Tyrantrum has also helped it.

So yeah, for those reasons I think Fletchinder should be A+

Fletchinder did gain some viability, however it has crippling weakness to stealth rocks, subpar defenses all the while being a mono attacker for which there exist a lot of counter play in the tier.
The bans made Magneton more threatening which is a good fletch check on all play styles.

I have to disagree and say that A is just fine for our favorite bird

 

[MANNAT]

With the megalix and tyranttrum bans, magneton is literally everywhere and Rhyperior has gained a ton of viability and is now the main ground type rocker. While it may look like the bans helped fletchinder at first glance, the changes that the bans caused have actually been more of a detriment than a help to fletchinder and the thing has become worse if anything else; however, I think it's amazing match up vs offense is enough to keep it in A rank.