Resource RU Viability Rankings - V2

[LORD HELIX 65]

Sorry I have been posting so much, I will lay off a bit after this post. Just trying to add to discussion.

Slowking: B- to C
I haven't really seen this mon getting a lot of use and when I do it doesn't really do too much. Sure, it certainly has a niche in checking special attackers like Salazzle, Nidoqueen, and Necrozma, but is it really worthy of B-? It's hard to check special attackers with king when most of them can just kill you like Yanmega, Venusaur, Rotom-Mow, Roserade, Shaymin, and Mismagius, making it hard to even boost. Also, it faces fierce competition as a specially bulky water from Milotic, who has a much better defensive typing, better special defense, and is just faster. Sure, Slowking has Regenerator, but Milotic has great abilities as well like Marvel Scale which makes it damn near unkillable when statused, especially with refresh, and competitive, which doubles its power when it gets a stat drop. Also, the presence of Mandibuzz certainly doesn't help it either. It can do very little to it while it can easily use toxic and chip away at it while it desperately attempts to get up Calm minds to try to do something to the Vulture. Slowking still is a decent pick on certain teams, but it's just too hampered currently to do it's job well lately.

 

[Lord Death Man]

The only thing I'm going to weigh in on re: the Toxicroak discussion is that if a set loses to something it's supposed to set up on, then that's obviously not it's good set.

Noivern to B/B+
Regi is worse than ever, which frees up Specs Noivern. With people actually running normal resists, I have found Noivern to be a lot harder than Swellow to handle. It also has some defensive utility thanks to its defensive typing, and Switcheroo to potentially neuter Cress - its only good check.

Next, we'll have a look at the discussing points:

I don't care about anything else in this post, but I support this (or at least a boost to B-). 3 attacks LO + defog is also a legit set / 2 attacks defog roost is okay I guess. I don't have experience with specs Noivern, but it's able to fulfill multiple niche roles in one mon, and sometimes you need the role compression, especailly on offense - Noivern switches into Araquanid and then has a very good chance to ohko it (unfortunately just a chance), which I think is a notable niche for a defogger to have on offense by itself. It's able to revenge a decent amount of anti-offense mons - Zygarde, Durant, Salazzle - in one slot, without having to lock itself into a weak attack like a lot of scarfers.

I have no experience with specs at all.

It's better than the entirety of C / C+ in my opinion, and I would agree it's better than most of B-, Jellicent, Slowking, and Registeel being the only two I'm unsure of.

Sorry I have been posting so much, I will lay off a bit after this post. Just trying to add to discussion.

Slowking: B- to C
I haven't really seen this mon getting a lot of use and when I do it doesn't really do too much. Sure, it certainly has a niche in checking special attackers like Salazzle, Nidoqueen, and Necrozma, but is it really worthy of B-? It's hard to check special attackers with king when most of them can just kill you like Yanmega, Venusaur, Rotom-Mow, Roserade, Shaymin, and Mismagius, making it hard to even boost. Also, it faces fierce competition as a specially bulky water from Milotic, who has a much better defensive typing, better special defense, and is just faster. Sure, Slowking has Regenerator, but Milotic has great abilities as well like Marvel Scale which makes it damn near unkillable when statused, especially with refresh, and competitive, which doubles its power when it gets a stat drop. Also, the presence of Mandibuzz certainly doesn't help it either. It can do very little to it while it can easily use toxic and chip away at it while it desperately attempts to get up Calm minds to try to do something to the Vulture. Slowking still is a decent pick on certain teams, but it's just too hampered currently to do it's job well lately.

The best Slowking set, to my knowledge, is assault vest, which is able to diffentiate itself from Milotic by having good special bulk and good offenses at the same time. Further, Future Sight gives it the ability to support mons like Bewear - for example, as you mentioned, Mandibuzz might switch in to Slowking, and then, if Bewear pivots in, the opponent suddenly has fewer options to immediately deal with Bewear. I think B- is perfectly fine for Slowking.

 

[MrAldo]

Just gonna mention that I agree with most of eifo nominations. Noivern and Virizion should definitely rise, and Bewear shouldnt drop just yet. Bewear just lost one of its most notorious competitions as a breaker in Kommo-O and the immediate power it provides alongside the bulky sponge it can provide to soft-check physical threats is really cool still.

Noivern is excellent right now. Fantastic speed tier alongside a great movepool that doesnt make it one dimensional at all like Swellow. Defog variants, Taunt Roost and LO Roost + 3 Attacks are all cool sets that offer a ton for offense in order to check threats like Salazzle and Durant and evening the matchup a lot against non sticky web ribombee teams. This is a cool mon. Virizion has been covered enough and it guarantees a rise I believe.

Just wanna focus on Whimsicott since I have used it a lot myself lately.

I dont agree with Whimsicott dropping. In fact, I believe it has gotten considerably better with the new drops. Despite Kommo-O leaving which was the mon that made it usable prior tier shifts, Whimsicott still holds really notable uses for offense since it is capable of checking Mega Blastoise really well if it lacks Ice Beam (a possibility since there are plenty of good Aura Sphere targets). Can dent most Mandibuzz variants with Moonblast boosted by pixie plate and is still a good emergency stop to setup sweepers like Feraligatr, Flygon, and even Rain Dance Kingdra if it catches up. It is bait for one of the best Pokemon in the tier (Salazzle) but it has U-turn to pivot out of that at least so isnt the end of the world for it. It still has the issue of having to keep between either threatening Milotic with Meadow Plate, or threatening Mandibuzz so thats why Im not suggesting a rise or anything. Keep it at C. It is still usable, even more now.

And people are exaggerating with Toxicroak dropping that far like I mean, it is certainly worse with stuff like Mega Steelix around since it needs fightinium Z to even consider powering through it but Life Orb is still a pretty competent set with Gunk Shot despite the recoil since it provides immediate power and this is the variant that can beat Milotic. The argument for it dropping is all messed up, it isnt that it loses to Milotic with one variant of the set, it is about having to choose between getting walled so many things atm with just 3 moves. You want Knock Off, Ice Punch, Gunk Shot, Drain Punch, Darkinium Z, Fightinium Z or Life Orb... pick one and you are walled by something. It guarantees a drop but not all the way to C.

 

[EviGaro]

Yeah I'll echo the Virizion rise. I've used it a fair amount and seen it more and more in tours and even ladder play during the suspect and it's actually not an easy mon to deal with. It takes advantage of metagame trends regarding balance while having a still useful speed tier for more offensive builds, while as always being somewhat uncomfortable for stall. Really great mon tbh.

I also don't think Whimsicott should drop that much. While the Defog hype went away real fast, the unorthodox typing and tools it brings to offensive teams are still somewhat noteworthy imo. It's also one of the rare Zydog checks for more offensive teams, and can still hold some lure potential for Salazzle with Psychic. Difficult mon to use, but it's an interesting pickup for some builds.

Unsure about Zydog dropping as well. It's still an extremely useful mon on offensive teams, beyond what I see in the A- rank, and doesn't have those counters that are difficult to take advantage of the following turn. Adding the fairly strong priority as a safety net, I don't think the fall of spikes - which coincidentally led to the fall of Chesnaught, probably the best counter it had - really impacted it, and it has fantastic synergy with offensive staples.

Finally, I think - and am SHOCKED Aldo did not mention it - Ampharos is due for a rise. Its ability to exploit current trends in balance builds is extremely relevant, while making it much easier to justify as a mega pick. Abomasnow does a roughly similar job in breaking down those teams, but Ampharos being able to pivot with Volt Switch and superior bulk/typing makes it definitely a step above the C ranks imo.

 

[cyanize]

Time to add my own two cents, I suppose.

Zydog

A -> A-: Absolutely disagree. Zydog is simultaneously a solid boon to offensive teams and a big pain to them. With Chesnaught falling off the map, actual Thousand Arrows resists are pretty uncommon, especially on offensive teams. Even on balance, unless you're packing a Gligar you're gonna be pressured to bring something in and recover every time this clicks an attack. There are very few games where this doesn't have an impact, even if it's as simple as creating free turns by forcing stuff to recover. At the same time, it provides one of offense's most consistent cleaners, and an emergency check to threats with its suprisingly decent Extreme Speed.

Rhyperior

A- -> B+: Disagree. I've been using Rindo SD a lot lately, and the ability to have a consistent Salazzle switchin, Normal/Flying resist, and rocker that beats Mandi and Gligar is so valuable for offense. Rindo is also neat for just chewing random Grass moves and retaliating back. I'd honestly rather it rise to A than anything, but I think A- is a fine fit as well.

Feraligatr

S -> A+: Agree. Highly impactful mon, but it simply doesn't make as much of a splash as the rest of the S ranks rn.

Virizion

B+ -> A-: Agree. Like others have said, SD Grassium Z blows up balances like nobody's business, is a pain in the ass for stall, and gets plenty of setup opportunities to boot. It also loves that Doublade is kinda dead rn.

Yanmega

A -> A+: On the fence; while nobody can discount its breaking prowess, as eifo said it is rather hard to support between its lack of defensive value and crippling weakness to SR. That said, hazard clearing is better than ever before, and when things go right for it it absolutely performs as an A+ mon would, but I'm not sure the considerable effort required for it to get there merits an A+ rank.

Toxicroak

B+ -> somewhere lower (I think B- is fair but baby steps.): Yes, please. I despise this mon. It tries to do 5 different things and only really ever does one to any decent level, and while you'd think Milotic's prevalence would mean it is greatly enabled, the reality is that it can very easily lose to Ice Beam Milotic (good move btw) and even vs non IB variants it has to rely on consistently hitting LO Gunk Shot in order to break it, and using Gunk Shot brings up a whole host of coverage problems where you either can't touch Gligar/Doublade/Nidoqueen, can't hit Steels (is a Fighting that can't touch Steels really worth that much lol), or is deadweight vs anything faster because it drops Sucker and at that point I'd just use Virizion.

Bewear

A- -> B+: Disagree. Arifeen, Aldo and eifo already covered this. Checks random phys stuff, CB is obnoxious to switch in to, Drain Punch is neat to let it stick around.

Hoopa

B -> B-: Disagree; not much has changed for it and while having to run Fight Z to bypass Mandibuzz makes its matchup versus offense weaker, it still does the exact same thing it always has otherwise.

Meloetta

B -> B+: Late on this, but Agree. Honestly not sure why this dropped as it's still scary as hell and I'm also not sure why it didn't rise last update either. Maybe I'm missing something?

Aerodactyl

C+ -> B-: Another late agree. Also not sure why this hasn't risen yet, Taunt 3 Attacks is a solid revenge killer, trapper, and cleaner for offense all in one slot, and Taunt Roost trades trapping for more reliablly pivoting into Salazzle and Swellow and the ability to annoy the hell out of some defensive mons.

Mega Ampharos

C+ -> B-: 4 Attacks is pretty annoying to face with balance and Volt Switch is a pretty nice boon for a breaker of its nature so I agree.

Noivern

C+ -> B-: Agree. Actual resists to this are becoming increasingly uncommon, and Taunt Roost shuts down common balance builds pretty handily while still providing a neat rkiller for mons like Salazzle and Zydog. Specs/LO hit pretty decently hard and are still fast as hell providing for a neat wallbreaker that doubles as a cleaner, smewhat like a special Zydog that can miss.

Now for a few of my own noms:

Moltres

A -> A+: Much like Yanmega, the recent influx of solid hazard control has only served to make this mon even more excellently viable. When you hit, Wallbreaking sets have a great combination of longevity, speed, defensive value, and power, and SubTox is still as good as ever at whittling bulky teams with ease. Protip: run 84 SDef instead of Def so you can sub on Cress guaranteed.

Megastoise

A -> A+: Our best spinner, bar none, and a huge boon to offensive teams. It has power, bulk, and coverage in spades, and 4 attacks variants are quite tough to deal with. Literally the only problem with it is you can't core it with Glalie/Steelix, which would both make for great partners.

Doublade

A- -> B+: I hate to admit it but slurmz was right. This is just really lame atm, it does very little in your average match due to Milo, Mandibuzz, Moltres, MegaStoise and others that just shut it down being excessively common, and on top of this it doesn't even beat all that much anyways.

Decidueye

B- -> C+: Mandibuzz.

Mandibuzz

A+ -> S: Speaking of the devil. This may be a tad bit soon, but if you've touched this tier since it's dropped you have to have seen this fat vulture turkey bird whatever sitting on its big fat ass and walling every fucking thing on the planet and shutting down damn near every rocker and being splashable as all hell and enabling defensive teams to a stupid degree like a Gligar on crack while also taking a big dump on bulky teams itself. I've even lost to NP twice because it flinched me to death. It literally does every single thing you could possibly expect out of it. god i hate this stupid thing so much ugh

Vanilluxe

C -> C+: (probably deserves B- tbqh): If you've played the suspect ladder at all, chances are you've seen my team, and chances also are you've been Blizzarded to hell and back by this little monster. Icicle Plate Taunt bops balances, especially the ever-common MiloLix cores, with relative ease and has the always neat STAB Ice Shard to contribute in offensive matchups, and Specs hits like a entire freight train with no brakes. It also greatly appreciates everyone using Mandibuzz instead of Umbreon, so it gets even more opportunities to click Blizzard versus your average team. (also helps that ant literally just got the boot as i was typing this lmao)

Escavalier

B -> B-: Doublade may be falling out of favor, but I'm not sure that keeps this from its continual decline as a situational at best breaker/trapper with CB that barely traps anything cause 90% of things it'd want to Pursuit just ohko it with Fire coverage and barely breaks anything becuase Moltres, MegaLix, Milo, and Gligar all just make its day poor. I suppose you trap Cress, but even that can run HP Fire now and 0 SpA Cresselia Hidden Power Fire vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Escavalier: 136-160 (41.9 - 49.3%) -- 83.2% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock lol. Protect 3 Attacks and ResTalk aren't even worth considering rn imo, they're so underwhelming. to be fair this is like one of the few decent vanilluxe checks but idt that's worth much lol

Xatu

C+ -> C-: This just sucks now. Doesn't check anything, all the relevant hazard setters just screw it sideways, and to top everything off Mandibuzz exists and is literally just 10000% better. The only merit it has is deterring things from clicking Toxic.

Diancie

C+ -> B-: Yeah, I know this just dropped, but as EviGaro put it: With people using the hell out of Mandibuzz and Moltres, how can this possibly be /that/ bad? Plus, Doublade is on its last legs, Registeel is six feet under, and Durant is out of here. Pretty much everything is looking up for this little rock-diamond thing.

Jellicent

B- -> C+: Let's be real, when's the last time you've seen this do anything? Trust me, I want to like it too, as countering Salazzle and being the ultimate balance annoyance at the same time sounds nice, but it doesn't work nearly as well in practice and faces way too heavy competition from other Waters.

In retospect this is more akin to a nickel than two cents but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Thanks for reading it all, if you did

 

[Sushi Bitch]

Rotom-C B+ --> A-: The lawnmower is in such a good place rn. With Milotic on every other team, it can provide valuable role compression in serving as your Milotic check and your defogger, as well as grabbing momentum with volt switch. It also appreciates Nidoqueen usage going down, as it's the only rocker that can really put pressure on it.

Vanilluxe C --> B/B-: The tier is really underprepped for this thing. Freeze dry means that it's resists are limited to steel types (most of which are on the decline), Salazzle (which really shouldn't be switching into anything), and the microwave. Taunt icicle plate and specs are both great sets, and I don't think it's a stretch to move it up to B, although B- still works.

 

[Salemjuggernaut]

Decidueye B- to C

This bird was dead since Mandibuzz dropped. There are few things in the meta that might warrant Decidueye to be better such as Durant leaving and Doublade losing usage. But the meta is very unkind to it now.It can’t stop any of the relevant waters in the meta besides Milotic cause Feraligatr and Mega-Blastoise all outspeed it and OHKO with super effective attacks. It’s better to use Virizion these days as your offensive grass type with Swords Dance due to the higher speed tier, better offensive typing for the meta, and better natural bulk. Not to mention the rise of Noiverns and Vanilluxes who all OHKO and outspeed Decidueye makes it nearly not worth using anymore. At least it might be good in NU once it drops.

 

[QuagsireBiscuit]

/Rotom-M B+ --> A /
This Nom is mainly for the fact that it is a counter to Milotic and Feraligatr and can be an amazing as a scarfer and can benefit any team. Also, its ability to defog might give it some amazing uses, unlike Rotom-H.

 

[cyanize]

yo, i'm back with another mostly irrelevant random nu mon that probably shouldn't work that i again stole the idea for.

i'm sure some of you are missing the presence of good setup steel-types on offense, and while this mon may not be good like durant, it is both a steel type and a wincon, so it has at least some value.

to C

ok i know you're thinking "cyan what the fuck are you smoking why would i ever use klinklang in a tier that also has mega steelix and haze milotic" but hear me out. megalix isn't exactly the hardest thing to pressure and chip the hell out of, and milotic dies to +1 wild charge -> neutral wild charge after rocks, so the best it can do is recover stall you as you hit yourself in recoil. for reference, this is the set i've been using.

why am i using this.

Klinklang @ Steelium Z
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Magnet Rise
- Gear Grind
- Wild Charge

klinklang outspeeds all the relevant scarfers after a boost, so that's completely out of the equation when it comes to revenging it which is a very neat feature. base 90 speed also lets it outpace timid nidoqueen and below even with an adamant nature - sadly, positive 78s like megastoise and gatr are one point faster than it, but outspeeding those isn't worth giving up the power of adamant nature. steel + electric coverage is actually surprisingly hard to wall, with only mega amphy, rotoms, and the obvious megalix resisting it out of the ru relevant mons. steelium z is actually quite the impressive nuke, picking up kos like rotom-c, bewear, araquanid, and sdef mandibuzz after rocks/minor chip, and allows klinklang to clean up weakened teams with surprising decency. it's also quite neat for letting shift gear bypass the occasional taunt user. where it really shines, though, is its relative ease of setup - thanks to pretty decent bulk and mono-steel typing, it gets quite a few setup opportunities in the average game simply by chewing attacks. it also allows it to take on all of the relevant priority users, with honchkrow being the only one capable of doing more than 50. magnet rise is the pièce de résistance of this set - it allows klinklang to net setup opportunities on nidoqueen, rhyperior, gigalith, eq bronzong, gligar, and even mega steelix, among other things, giving it a rather reliable range of pokemon to get boosts on in order to clean, and also makes it harder to revenge with things that would be able to take it on at +1 like gligar and rhyperior. all of these positive traits combine to decently outweigh the negative that is being ultra-hardwalled by megalix and make it actually somewhat okay to use - but don't just take my word for it, let the calcs and replays talk.

calcs

+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Wild Charge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic: 226-266 (57.3 - 67.5%)
252+ Atk Klinklang Wild Charge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Milotic: 150-178 (38 - 45.1%) -- dead after SR damage (or a roll w/o if you remove its lefties somehow)
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Rotom-Mow: 190-224 (78.8 - 92.9%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Bewear: 483-568 (126.7 - 149%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Wild Charge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Moltres: 294-348 (91.5 - 108.4%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Wild Charge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Feraligatr: 268-316 (86.1 - 101.6%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 240 HP / 0 Def Mandibuzz: 387-456 (91.9 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Necrozma: 399-471 (119.1 - 140.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO (this is probably the bulkiest non-resistant offensive mon you'll find, and steel z just cleaves it in half)
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 104 Def Eviolite Porygon2: 262-309 (70 - 82.6%)
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 370-436 (93.9 - 110.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252+ Atk Klinklang Wild Charge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blastoise-Mega: 230-272 (76.9 - 90.9%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock (this is the easiest chip ever)
+2 252+ Atk Klinklang Corkscrew Crash (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Steelix-Mega: 127-150 (35.8 - 42.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock (this is actually relevant because you can easily boost on it to +2 or more after magnet rising, and getting lix here isn't an insurmountable task)

now some defensive calcs.

252 SpA Gardevoir Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Klinklang: 87-102 (33.3 - 39%)
252 SpA Shaymin Seed Flare vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Klinklang: 93-111 (35.6 - 42.5%)
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Nidoqueen Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Klinklang: 73-86 (27.9 - 32.9%) -- you can magnet rise on this, and afterwards this is the best it can do bar the rare fire/fighting move
16+ Atk Rhyperior Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 71-84 (27.2 - 32.1%)
36+ Atk Steelix-Mega Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 78-93 (29.8 - 35.6%) -- easy boosts as i said
252 SpA Roserade Leaf Storm vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Klinklang: 118-140 (45.2 - 53.6%)
252 Atk Refrigerate Glalie-Mega Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 98-116 (37.5 - 44.4%) -- eq is somewhat more rare on this nowadays, so should you find an eq-less one it's setup bait
252+ Atk Doublade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 58-69 (22.2 - 26.4%)
252 Atk Life Orb Feraligatr Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 66-78 (25.2 - 29.8%)
252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Klinklang: 142-168 (54.4 - 64.3%)
i think you get the point, it sets up on resisted and weak attacks and can do so pretty easily.

replays
===============

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-697650419 -- escav gets weakened and locks into knock off, and with rocks up kk cleans easily. a solid showcase of how magnet rise allows it to avoid being revenged.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-696659841 -- megailx sudokus itself on rh mandi, which lets kk take advantage of a -2 goodra to get an easy clean-up job. (don't mind this guy i have 0 idea why he's mad)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-696595625 -- magnet rise putting in work again -- this time it allows kk to set up in the face of a gligar before blowing it off the map and finishing up the game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-695155873 -- weakening milo and knocking off its lefties lets klinklang take it out, and after being returned to full it easily boosts past cm cresselia.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-695159034 -- once again, klinklang takes out milotic with just a little bit of chip to secure the ko (namely sr), and magnet rises on gigalith later on in the game to clean up. also features steel z popping rotom-c.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-696599597 -- klinklang didn't win this game (partially because i was jolly on accident, partially because i didn't take the extra free boost) but it shows that megalix doesn't have to absolutely dead in order for kk to get past it.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-694891967 -- klinklang turns around what would be a lost game by boosting on kingdra and bypassing rhyperior with magnet rise. again steel z comes in clutch vs rotom-c.

special shoutout to EviGaro once again for the idea. i suggest you guys give this mon a spin (get it? because gears? ...i'll let myself out now.) as it's quite neat and has definitely pulled its weight despite megalix being a thing that exists, and outside of megalix it's actually quite difficult to stop from cleaning.

 

[Mac3]

Hello today I will nom two mons that are unranked for B- and C respectively: Pyukumuku and M-Audino.

(Unranked --> B-)
Pyukumuku is used on pretty much all stall teams nowadays as it is much harder to pressure than Quagsire and doesn't lose to non taunt-NP Salazzle. Pyukumuku is a bit more passive than Quag but thanks to Soak + Toxic it can still damage all pokemon that don't have immunity fuck gligar or Sub/Taunt. Sadly it can't switch in on electric types which is annoying as stall won't have as good of a match-up vs. volt-turn but otherwise this should easily be at Quagsire's rank at least.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-693543469 - disregard name, pyuku wins me the game
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-694488495

(Unranked --> C)
Mega-Audino might seem like a weird choice for a nom, but it has gotten a large buff from the latest drops. It counters M-Blastoise while also now overlapping typings with Mandibuzz like Umbreon does. If it uses Knock Off it is also able to beat Mismagius and Hoopa which is really nice role compression on stall teams. You can also just stay in regular form if you think that Regenerator will be better than the fairy type and extra defense.

Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-694311179
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-694216372

 

[phantom]

Ranking Updates:

Hide

Feraligatr S --> A+

Yanmega A --> A+

Sigilyph A --> B+

Necrozma A --> A-

Doublade A- --> B

Meloetta B --> A-

Diancie C+ --> B-

Decidueye B- --> C+

Aerodactyl C+ --> B-

Quagsire B- --> C

Xatu C+ --> C-

Qwilfish C+ --> C-

Gigalith B- --> C+

Banette-Mega B- --> C+

Machamp B- --> C+

Rhyperior A- --> B+

Pyukumuku Unranked --> B-

Virizion B+ --> A

Tsareena B+ --> B

Pangoro B+ --> B-

Reasoning:

Hide

For mons that weren't discussed/need more explantion:

Sigilyph moved down because it struggles fitting on a team. While it isn't necessarily bad, the introduction of different forms of hazard removal has made it much less desirable, while Mandibuzz's presence in the tier puts a damper on its CM set. Pangoro moved down because outside of the ability to spam Knock Off and break through Unaware users, it's largely eclipsed by Bewear in everything it does. Rhyperior moved down because it's not quite at the level of other A- mons, while Mega Blastoise and even Mandibuzz to an extent make its job as a Stealth Rock user exceedingly difficult. Quagsire moved down because it's overshadowed by Pyukumuku which checks other Pokemon more consistently than Quagsire due to its pure Water typing and slightly better bulk. Banette-Mega and Necrozma have both taken a hit in viability with the introduction of Mandibuzz, neither are quite as good as they once were and are often stopped dead in their tracks by one of the most common defensive staples.

While discussion on Yanmega rising was split, Yanmega rose because the arguments against it rising boiled down to "it's weak to SR", which while a noteworthy flaw, is not particularly difficult to circumvent in this meta and isn't the be-all end-all. Furthermore, when given the proper support which is not too hard to provide, Yanmega without a doubt performs at the level of other top tier wallbreakers due to its great power and good speed.

Meloetta has moved up because it's one of the single best wallbreakers in the tier. It has very shaky defensive counterplay due to its great power and coverage, while its speed and great special bulk let it set up on several notable special attackers such as Rotom-C, Nidoqueen, and Sigilyph. Due to its overall consistency against nearly any team, A- seemed like a suitable move.

Diancie rose because it's one of the few SR users that can fend off Mandibuzz consistently and offers a few other traits that are useful to any team, such as being a hard stop to Moltres. However, it invites far too many Pokemon in for free and doesn't check nearly enough to warrant an additional rise.

Discussion Points:

Mandibuzz A+ --> S

Klinklang Unranked --> C

Vanilluxe C --> C+

Umbreon A- --> B+

Froslass B --> B-

Ampharos-Mega C+ --> B-

 

[Leer]

I support Umbreon to B+. I LOVE Umbreon but Mandibuzz (move it to S already) is a better bulky dark and while it can't be a cleric like wish/heal bell Umbreon, it can still absorb hits and can remove hazards in a tier with not many good hazard removes (at least in my opinion). Also Verizion is becoming more popular and Umbreon can't doing anything about it where Mandi at least has flying type to bulk Verizion's STAB moves (stone edge i another story but w/e). Overall it feels like Umbreon's become a lot harder to use lately, and in more and more games it feels like a liability, whereas Mandibuzz feels like a staple of the tier worthy of S rank

not much of what I just said was of substance but I really feel it ,you know

 

[mofro5]

C -->B- or B
Yes, honestly surprised Vanilluxe didn't rise to at least C+ already tbh. Everyone knows by now that this destroys some of the most common fat cores rn and one look at the current VR rankings shows it having favorable matchups against over half of the A- to S rank mons by itself (inlcuding over 70% of the A to S ranks so this basically gets better the "better" the teams it's facing are). It has so much role compression without 4MSS which means it can do everything it's able to do all the time: Break stall, wallbreak, outpace/beat key offensive mons (79 spe is vroken), revenge major threats (Yan, Swellow, Flygon, Roserade, Virizion, Zydoge, Aero, Krow... the list goes on and on), even singlehandedly shut down weather strats. Outside of its type it's not even that frail, especially specially as 71/95 tanks a specs Garde Moonblast which happens to be something else rising in popularity that also happens to lose 1v1 vs the creams more often than not. Also what's a Doublade lol.

Unranked --> B-

Honestly Kingdra deserves to at least be ranked. Its effectiveness is kinda bipolar and matchup dependent, it's weak without setup, and it's difficult to justify a team slot for this a lot of the time with 3 other water types in the tier being A+ or S. That being said, it's reaaaaallllly good at what it does, like scary good. It's not really that difficult to set up a Focus Energy against fatter mons, especially in conjunction with sub (lol refresh/toxic milo) and worse comes to worst it's decently bulky with few weaknesses so it should conceivably be able to find at least one opportunity to set up against most teams. And when it does set up look at this:
252 SpA Sniper Kingdra Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Registeel on a critical hit: 177-208 (48.6 - 57.1%) -- 90.6% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
The most specially tanky thing you're gonna face in the tier is 2HKO'd by a neutral hit after rocks and a turn of lefties worth of chip damage. Unfortunately, its speed is only good not great so it's relatively easy to limit the damage done against offensive teams (athough they should be careful of RD Kingdra sweeping through a weakened team) and its inconsistency combined with the teambuilding challenge prevents it from being an overbearing wallbreaker.

A- --> B+
Yeah probably, Umbreon's two biggest niches on semi-stall and stall have been challenged by the new duo in Mandi + (M)Audino. Given Audino's complimentary typing with Mandi, Umb is not the only "viable" cleric in the tier for defensively oriented teams and said lack of clashing types no longer discourages the use of Mandi and its qualities either on stall. Qualities such as being a mostly catch-all check to special or physical threats depending on EVs to one of the best stallbreakers in the tier with hazard removal fitting anywhere in between that fits seamlessly on all types of teams stall, balance, or offence alike.

 

[Lordemort]

C -->B- or B

Vanniluxe is certainly not a bad pokemon. Modest specs can freely spam blizzard, while most of the tier's splashable water mons (Like Milotic, Feraligatr and Mega Blastoise) easily get 2HKO'D by Freeze Dry so switchin in on the Ice Cream lads is not a certain. Furthermore, special walls like Registeel or Umbreon and other pokemon like Doublade have dropped in viability in favor of others mons like Mandibuzz which Vanilluxe has a field day with and it certainly has benefited from the increased options of hazard removal.

Despite that, Vanilluxe sits on a very mediocre speed tier which allows it to be revenged killed by most offensive threats and pokemon like Snorlax, Cresselia or Porygon 2 don't feel much from it's attacks and can retaliate back or PP stall away its Blizzards, so I think a move to just B- or maaayybe B is fine (for now).

 

[Master Chief]

Hey thought I would drop off some thoughts to farm for some likes

Ampharos-Mega C+ --> B-/B

Mega Ampharos is often eclipsed by other megas but has a decent niche right now as a very good balance breaker since its electric stab and sky high special attack set threaten two of the biggest walls right now in RU namely Milotic and Mandibuzz doing insane damage to both and taking very little in return. While there are certainly switch ins to Ampharos, it can volt switch out and gain momentum for the team. Ground switch ins to Mega Ampharos are also rather shaky due to dragon pulse and focus blast taking huge chunks from nidoqueen and steelix respectively. It is still eclipsed by other megas but is still a solid choice nonetheless and warrants a rise

B- --> B+/B
Critdra is in an interesting place right now as it has the capacity to break balance also by firing off insanely powerful draco meteors and hydro pumps thanks to sniper. However its stats are still medicore especially its bulk and speed which makes set up opportunities hard to come by. Despite this Kingdra can absolutely excel in certain match ups given the right support and can set up freely on certain pokemon especially with substitute. Kingdra doesn't have the best match up vs offense due to how easy it is to revenge kill but this can be patched up with webs support on some teams. Kingdra does require a fair amount of support to work which is why it shouldn't rise higher but can still pull its weight a lot in some favorable match ups

Umbreon (shouldn't move)
While we got a new bulky dark type in Mandibuzz that has eclipsed umbreon, I still feel umbreon does a solid job in what it does. It still does a very good job in walling most special attackers in the tier and unlike mandibuzz can provide cleric support which is very valuable to a lot of teams including stall. It also pairs well with a lot of physical walls for its ability to sponge status moves very well. It is still a very solid choice for many teams and thus I believe it shouldn't move in the VR

Vanilluxe C --> C+/B-
Vanilluxe has seen a fair amount of recent usage in tours with the departure of ant. Ice STAB on vanilluxe is very valuable in the form of both blizzard and freeze dry equipped with life orb, icicle plate or choice specs and the recent downward trend of steel types in the tier makes this mon much better. Equipped with taunt, Vanilluxe acts as another nuisance to fat and balanced cores and its speed tier puts it at enough speed that it can mostly spam blizzard for free vs certain teams. However, due to its weakness to stealth rock and its ability to be revenge killed easily, this mon doesn't find the greatest match up vs some teams but is still a decent choice and warrants a rise

 

[MaahirMomtaz12]

Hey thought I would drop off some thoughts to farm for some likes

Ampharos-Mega C+ --> B-/B

Mega Ampharos is often eclipsed by other megas but has a decent niche right now as a very good balance breaker since its electric stab and sky high special attack set threaten two of the biggest walls right now in RU namely Milotic and Mandibuzz doing insane damage to both and taking very little in return. While there are certainly switch ins to Ampharos, it can volt switch out and gain momentum for the team. Ground switch ins to Mega Ampharos are also rather shaky due to dragon pulse and focus blast taking huge chunks from nidoqueen and steelix respectively. It is still eclipsed by other megas but is still a solid choice nonetheless and warrants a rise

Unranked --> B-/B
Critdra is in an interesting place right now as it has the capacity to break balance also by firing off insanely powerful draco meteors and hydro pumps thanks to sniper. However its stats are still medicore especially its bulk and speed which makes set up opportunities hard to come by. Despite this Kingdra can absolutely excel in certain match ups given the right support and can set up freely on certain pokemon especially with substitute. Kingdra doesn't have the best match up vs offense due to how easy it is to revenge kill but this can be patched up with webs support on some teams. Kingdra does require a fair amount of support to work which is why it shouldn't rise higher but can still pull its weight a lot in some favorable match ups

Umbreon (shouldn't move)
While we got a new bulky dark type in Mandibuzz that has eclipsed umbreon, I still feel umbreon does a solid job in what it does. It still does a very good job in walling most special attackers in the tier and unlike mandibuzz can provide cleric support which is very valuable to a lot of teams including stall. It also pairs well with a lot of physical walls for its ability to sponge status moves very well. It is still a very solid choice for many teams and thus I believe it shouldn't move in the VR

Vanilluxe C --> C+/B-
Vanilluxe has seen a fair amount of recent usage in tours with the departure of ant. Ice STAB on vanilluxe is very valuable in the form of both blizzard and freeze dry equipped with life orb, icicle plate or choice specs and the recent downward trend of steel types in the tier makes this mon much better. Equipped with taunt, Vanilluxe acts as another nuisance to fat and balanced cores and its speed tier puts it at enough speed that it can mostly spam blizzard for free vs certain teams. However, due to its weakness to stealth rock and its ability to be revenge killed easily, this mon doesn't find the greatest match up vs some teams but is still a decent choice and warrants a rise

Just to let you know, Kingdra got put into B-

 

[eifo]

Welcome back, eifopack. In today's episode of pretentious young adult pretends to be an all-knowing pokemon genius whose knowledge far exceeds that of a mere human, we shall proceed to take another look at the VR. Starting of, yours truly will educate you on his ingenious invention that is Vanilluxe, what it does and why it is the G O A T.

C -->B- or B

Vanniluxe is certainly not a bad pokemon. Modest specs can freely spam blizzard, while most of the tier's splashable water mons (Like Milotic, Feraligatr and Mega Blastoise) easily get 2HKO'D by Freeze Dry so switchin in on the Ice Cream lads is not a certain. Furthermore, special walls like Registeel or Umbreon and other pokemon like Doublade have dropped in viability in favor of others mons like Mandibuzz which Vanilluxe has a field day with and it certainly has benefited from the increased options of hazard removal.

Despite that, Vanilluxe sits on a very mediocre speed tier which allows it to be revenged killed by most offensive threats and pokemon like Snorlax, Cresselia or Porygon 2 don't feel much from it's attacks and can retaliate back or PP stall away its Blizzards, so I think a move to just B- or maaayybe B is fine (for now).

There's a few things wrong with this that I think needs to be pointed out. Firstly, you cannot use Modest Nature. Without Timid it is outsped by mons such as Gatr, m-Stoise and Queen, all of which it is of absolute necessity to outspeed. Secondly, how does Cress beat Ice Cream? It recovers 25% from Moonlight in hail, Specs Blizzard does almost half, Psychic does nothing and Taunt Icicle Plate just takes a fat dump on Cress. P2 and Umby also happens to get 1v1d by Taunt Vanilluxe if it comes in on a Blizzard. Taunt Icicle Plate is its primary set, and thus should be your main focus. Specs is merely a fun "click a button and watch it do damage" set that you can toy around with if you feel like it. This is for two reasons: for one, being choice locked sucks, as Milo and sStoise can pivot in on Blizzard, and if it's locked into FD it does negligible damage to neutral targets. This oftentimes forces 50-50s in situations you'd otherwise be in a great spot. For what it's worth Doub, while garbage now, was never a good check to begin with. It comes in once per game and ends up getting too low to check Ice Cream or any of it partners afterwards.

With that out of the way, I'll just echo what has already been said about this mon, both from myself and others. Ice+Freeze-Dry resists are horrible in this tier, as the only common/good ice resist is Milo. Its speed tier is solid, allowing it to outspeed titans such as Queen/Stoise/Gatr, and its natural bulk lets it be a one-time check to/trade vs a ton of mons in the tier. It usually claims a kill or three if played well. Vanilluxe has no business being in C, rise to B.

Mandibuzz A+ --> S
Fantastic mon that fits on almost any team, much like Milo. I was initially a bit skeptical about this rise back when it first fell to the tier, but at this point there is no shred of doubt in my mind. Mandi is way too fat and splashable not to be in S. You can tailor it to your needs, be it as stallbreaker, Sp Def Defog(Yanmega switchin!!!), Phys Def Virizion counter (yes, BB Mandi is actually an alright set if you can fit it somehow, the latter being the set's main problem, shoutouts 4mss) etc. Having access to Knock Off/Foul Play to negate its one big drawback - passiveness - doesn't exactly speak against it either...

Few of my own noms:

Decidueye to C-
Let's face it, Decid is garbage with Mandi running the tier. Sure, it has very common set up fodder in Milo, but what's that gonna do for you if it's paired with a Mandi? And if you fail to set up, it's just piss weak. My little sister hits harder than this thing when unboosted. It's also slow and frail, which means it usually does fuck all vs any offensive build. As a matter of fact, is there a reason at all to use Decid right now? Just stick to Hoopa if you want a good sub+set up breaker. It literally does everything Decid does, but better. And if you insist on using an SD grass mon, why aren't you using Virizion? This mon seems completely worthless to me.

Lastly, I shall re-nom a mon for the untienth time:

Aerodactyl B- to B
Aero is far above any of the B- mons. I honestly fail to see why it didn't just rise to B already. Its amazing speed tier and typing lets it check two of offense's biggest problems: Salazzle and Swellow. It's also one of the best, if not the best Pursuit trapper in the meta, trapping Hoopa, slightly weakened Melo, Yan, Molt etc by forcing them out with its powerful Life Orb boosted STAB Stone Edge thanks to its great speed tier. It can also revenge almost anything but Scarfers/boosted mons. Roost is also a neat option if you want to check Molt for instance several times during the course of the game. It just does so much for offense in one slot. Rise it already.

And that concludes today's session. Hope y'all had a blast listening to ya mcm mr rantman. Idk how not to sound like a cocky besserwisser when I'm advocating for something, so you're gonna have to deal with that.

I swear I'm actually a cute user ;w;

,

 

[Master Chief]

Just to let you know, Kingdra got put into B-

yh I didn't notice that so edited my post. Thanks for that

 

[KW]

My two cents, not going to spend forever going on but cutting straight to hot takes.

Ampharos-Mega C+ --> B-
Agree. Could even see it an echelon above B-. Nothing on the fat balance™ that has come to dominate the tier really appreciates it, and Manidubzz's prevalence helps make the case for this thing. Focus Blast does a surprisingly hefty chunk to everything it needs to, and even can 2HKO bop Umbreon if you're lucky enough. Of course, with Spatk and what should be heavy Speed investment, it gets worn down more quickly than it would like, but it's possible to play carefully with.

Klinklang Unranked --> C
After a long deliberation, I am forced to agree with cyanize's garbage nom. Mega Steelix means this thing should be ass, but it usually takes some chip, and this sets up on enough of the scarfers. Shift gear actually makes this things hard to R kill, and due to insane meta circumstances I see it being borderline viable, though it has a harder time setting up than you think.
Make it C ...

Umbreon A- --> B+
Hell no. Umbreon is a cleric, Mandibuzz is a defensive Defogger/ Stallbreaker/ Wall. Yes, some teams will have to drop Umbreon because they'd rather have Mandibuzz as defensive Dark-type, but Umbreon is the only mon that can perform the cleric role decently in the tier (Florges absolutely sucks as a cleric) and that's way to valauble to too many teams for it to drop.

Vanilluxe C --> C+/B-

I'm ok with this rising to C+ becuase of what was discussed earlier, but I think it's shy of B rank material. Yes, it can pressure fat balance, but it's also one of the breakers that has a hard trouble switching in, with rocks doing 25%, and even stuff like Milotic's Scald that and Mandibuzz's Foul Play that other breakers like Mega Ampharos and Meleotta (in the former case) have a much easier time switchin in on. Other breakers also have an easier time tanking hits and still providing value vs. more offensive teams. Vanilluxe isn't horrible, but it needs specific matchups to work and a team that checks a lot of the right boxes for it to make sense over other choices.

Bop that's it, other than that (and ofc the insanity of the Linoone situation) vr looks pretty good. Considered nomming Gatr down to A, but we'll have to see.

 

[Natan]

I agree with Vanilluxe to B-/B (leaning more towards B- tbh), I think its a nice mon rn thats able to pressure 99% of the teams without Snorlax and Escavalier (and Specs with right prediction might be a pain to play against even with Escav), can beat most SpD mons if Taunt and can even RK faster threats with Never-Melt Ice Ice Shard, really hard to play against without being forced to sack smth in order to RK it later and everytime the meta changes it seems to change more in Vanilluxe's favor (besides the fact that Escavalier is seeing more usage rn), not gonna extend too much on that one cuz eifo covered almost everything I could say.

I also gotta agree with Klinklang, I lost to it (I could win if I sacked Garde on Z, it was a roomtour game and I was lazy to calc tbh but still) and it's actually usable, and I hate having to admit this cuz fuck klinklang tbh

And I agree with Amphy, Mandi, and Aero rising. About Amphy, standard teams have many problems to play against, mainly with the common compositions like MLix + Milo + Mandi, it can check Rotom-C and with Mold Breaker Focus Blast OHKOes Rhyperior, it can even work as a shaky check to Moltres which is a big threat rn, basically without predicting perfectly its very hard to prevent this from getting kills. Mandibuzz has a lot of viable options (such as SpD or Def Defog or Stallbreaker), is REALLY FAT and walls a lot of mons, just like Milotic, it also fits very well with Milo, imo it's clearly S Rank. Just like eifo said, Aero is a neat option for offensive teams providing Pursuit, Speed control, it's better suited in B imo, if it could have 15 moves on its set I'd say it should be even higher, the 4MSS is really annoying when most of the time you want Stone Edge, EQ, Taunt, Roost, and Pursuit, while there are lot of other options that would be nice.

I also agree with Decidueye to C- cuz with Mandi running the tier there are no reasons to use this>Virizion to be honest, and I have no opinion on Froslass tbh, it's been a while since the last time I saw one so it could drop idk

And I think Goodra should be B-, since Kommo-o is gone Goodra became a lot better, I don't think it's comparable with Machamp or Gigalith rather than Rotom-Heat, for instance, Specs, Band, and even Scarf work really well (I even heard AV is not garbage but I'm still skeptical about this tbqh), providing a check for mons like Rotom-H and Rotom-C, Shaymin, Roserade and Yanmega (you need some prediction tho), and Blastoise-Mega without Ice Beam, can take virtually any special hit from full (a +1 AoP from Meloetta is a roll to KO after Rocks)5 after and is really strong, I have here a good example of how Goodra can work:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ru-696700703 this is my seasonal game against The Welsh Wall, Goodra literally won that game by pivoting into Air Slash from Yanmega, KOing Gardevoir, and later RKing Lax, ofc the RNG decided that I shouldn't win that but not my fault, it still proves my point tho imo

 

[Salemjuggernaut]

Decidueye C+ to D
This bird is still dead as usual. What can I say that hasn’t been said? It’s outclassed by Virizion and Feraligatr as a SD sweeper due to actually being able to break Mandibuzz and still threatening balance while also having better speed and power. RU was Decid’s only chance to be redeemed viable in a tier, but meta trends and Mandibuzz ruined its representation. Even if it drops to NU it wouldn’t be any better. Sneasel, Vanilluxe, Delphox, Guzzlord, Emboar, Incineroar, do I need to go on. By the end of Gen7 this thing won’t be even close to B+ tier in PU due to the overall meta itself. If it’s stats were like this

HP 70
ATK 107
DFSE 75
SPA 100
SPD 78
SPEED 100
TOTAL 530

Then it would be much better. Game freak was drunk trying to make the stats of mostly every Alolan mon and they failed on a lot of them and failed them hard.

 

[zizalith]

Decidueye B- -> C
I definitely agree that decidueye should drop, but not to the d rank since despite being pretty mediocre with mandibuzz its nowhere near the level of the d ranked mons at all. I believe c or c- would be optimal; its ability to trash Pokemon like milotic and cresselia can still be appreciated by certain teams. its ghost typing allowing it to spinblock can be useful on web teams as well (though otherwise both tsareena and blastoise beat it due to their speed advantage), and it faces competition from other spinblockers on web teams. it can even beat mandibuzz with the z smack down set (it does slightly more damage than z giga impact), but of course that comes with the issues of having to give up your z crystal slot and either sucker punch or substitute. all in all this still feels pretty mediocre but it does have its unique niches and should go to c or possibly c- in my opinion.

Umbreon A- -> B+
this should drop. everyone already said all the reasons why; mandibuzz is a more thicc dark type. and though mandi cant be a cleric, mega audino has recently started becoming popular on some stall builds, taking up its remaining niche.

agree with vanilluxe and amphy rises as well, both pretty cool mons that threaten balance nicely.

 

[Yay]

Mandibuzz A+ --> S
Definitely agree, probably it should be there earlier since it can afford to be a wall with stallbreaking capabilities, while being capable of putting almost anything in check based on the spread and moves you want to use, what include powerful threats such as yanmega, bewear and pangoro, meloetta, shaymin, tsareena, roserade and so on. It's very splashable, makes a lot of cores better and it's usage isn't limited to a single playstyle. Definitively should be on this place.

Vanilluxe C --> C+/B-
Agree, Vanilla is an amazing breaker that can threat most of the tier with blizzard + freeze dry and taunt opposing walls, having a niche that sets it apart from Mega Abomasnow due to it's access to taunt and decent speed tier. being his movepool the only thing who pushes him back. Anyway, he has a very strong role in most offense teams and really deserves a better ranking.

Umbreon A- --> B+
I was bit on the edge for this, cause although it sets apart from Mandi thanks to its cleric capabilities, Umbreon is 100% one dimensional, it's very passive and his role compression as a dark-type cleric can be compensated with cores like Mandi + MAudino, and as a mixed wall, by mons such as the ones mentioned before and type:null; without hurting semi-stall/stall builds. It may set apart from Mandi as a individual mon, but it's role compression as a stall tool doesn't make up for the fact that Mandi is simply more versatile. Agree with drop though.

 

[MrAldo]

Some nominations of my own based on my experience

Escavalier to B+: This Pokemon is pretty good right now and I believe deserves a slight raise since it complements a lot of Pokemon really well. There is a good tendency of using Pokemon like Bronzong, Snorlax and Cresselia to cover as many things as possible and while thats not necessarily a bad things Escavalier is able to take advantage of this trend way better than many things atm. Choice Band removes Bronzong very easily and it can overpower Curse Snorlax pretty nicely, and lets not even mention what it does to Cresselia. It support a good array of Pokemon like Ddance Flygon, Scarf Gardevoir, Ice types like Vanilluxe and Mega Abomasnow, and Fire-types like Salazzle and Moltres really well since all of this appreciate the defensive mons mentioned removed or weakened. Certainly better than it was before an deserve a rise for its merits.

Slowking to B+: This mon is really good atm. It provides an unique combination of defensive and offensive prowess that is really unique on its own thanks to it using Assault Vest to keep many special threats at bay (beating some grass types included) and be able to run offensive investment on top of that, and how the combination of Future Sight + Dragon Tail put really good pressure on teams since the psychic resists being used atm either dont like Scald or are rather passive. However, Assault Vest isnt the only notable set atm. Some OTR sets with psychium Z can be really threatening to face and showcase this mon isnt just some one-trick pony, and this set will pull your pants down if you expected it to be AV. Really solid mon with shortcomings unlike other water types but it is really good on its own, so much that it deserves a rise a couple of ranks tbh. And I dont that type of sudden rises like that but I believe it is deserved.

Agreed on Vanilluxe rising and Umbreon dropping. Not too sold on Mandibuzz for S tho.

 

[Myosin]

from C+ to B

I've been playing a bit on the ladder with and against Mega Ampharos and I've found that it's very tough to handle for your typical bulky cores of Milotic + Mega Steelix, and anything it struggle to take on is easily pressured or you can gain momentum vs with Volt Switch. B- definitely seems a bit too low to me, as I would consider it more on par with Pokemon such as Mismagius and Swellow, but better than Pokemon such as Pangoro and Pyukumuku.

from C to B-
Vanilluxe has proven to me as a big threat in wallbreaking as well, and it matches up very nicely vs drops like Mandibuzz as well as cores like Gligar + Milotic. Extra hail damage along with priority makes it very hard for more offensive Pokemon to switch in and check it, even if they resist it's STABs (namely Salazzle).

Anyways I hope these were helpful!