Gary
Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
RANKING UPDATE
Rises
A- ---> A
B+ ---> A-
C+ ---> B-
Drops
B ---> B-
B- ---> C+
C+ ---> C
C+ ---> C
C ---> C-
C ---> C-
This will most likely be the last update before the Arena Trap suspect ends. Because of this, I don't really have a discussion slate for you guys. The meta is most likely going to change a lot if Arena Trap does get banned, so there will be a lot to discuss in the near future anyway.
Rises
Drops
- Zapdos has always been an amazing defensive Pokemon in the metagame for the last few months on a wide variety of builds, be it bulky offense, balance, and stall. Its ability to check very prominent Pokemon thanks to its great defensive typing, Speed, and offensive coverage still makes it a nightmare for stuff like Celepex. On stall and even some balance, it's a great defogger for its ability to heavily pressure common Spikers such as Skarm, Ferrothorn, and non Ice Beam Greninja. It also takes a pretty big dump on the bird spam team because of its ability to check Mega Pinsir as well as outspeed Dragonite and 2HKO it with HP Ice.
- Kyurem-B has seen quite a lot of usage towards the end of WCOP as well as all throughout OLT. Its Icium Z set is capable of basically guaranteeing a kill vs most teams due to Subzero Slammer OHKOing most non resists and severely denting resists. Between its coverage moves in Earth Power in Fusion Bolt, most would be switch-ins still find themselves being heavily pressured, namely Pex, Alolomola, Suicune, and Heatran. Its ability to prey on common defensive cores such as CelePex, Clef, Mew, and Mega Venu makes it a very useful balance breaker. On top of this, it has other viable sets in LO Mixed with HP Fire to bop Mega Scizor, as well as Choice Scarf which can be a very frightening late-game cleaner.
- Hippo has seen some usage in OLT because of its ability to get up SR as well as walling a good portion of the physically offensive tier. Being able to completely wall Z Wild Charge Tapu Koko, as well as taking hits from Z Fly Lando-T, Mega Pinsir, T-tar, and Mega Lopunny. It still suffers from being very passive, but its ability to blanket check a lot of the tier while getting up SR is very useful for balance builds.
- Mega Gallade is just not that great of a pick for most teams. While its still able to break through some balance cores, the influx in Clefable really hurts it, as well as struggling to do much vs many of the HOs running around such as bird spam, Veil, and being deadweight vs stall. Mega Lopunny, Mega Medi, and Mega Heracross all give it a decent amount of competition as a Fighting-type breaker or revenge killer due to their more immediate power or higher speed respectively.
- Mega Sharpedo sees very little usage on ladder and in tours because of how awkward it is to fit onto a team. While Strong Jaws and its good coverage could allow it to potentially be a great early game breaker, it's unable to function as a late game cleaner without preserving Speed Boost until the very end. The influx in Ferrothorn as well as Mega Scizor isn't good for it either, and it's unable to break any of the stalls, or do much vs any of the HOs because of their priority or Veil.
- Primarina's niche a while back was being able to function as a less bulky, offensive version of Fini that could check the likes of Ash Gren and Pheromosa, while being very difficult to switch into. Phero has been banned for months now, and Fini's typing is no longer basically mandatory on as many teams these days. There's just not much reason to use Prim on teams anymore.
- Starmie has great coverage but can't run everything, which always leaves it walled by something. Defensive Starmie is extremely passive and is just really bad in general, and the offensive variants are very easy to wear down via Iron Barbs on Ferro and LO recoil. It's way too susceptible to residual damage, and can't really beat any of the common Spikers in the tier bar Skarmory, and it's spin blocked by Mega Sab.
- Breloom struggles to really carve itself a niche in this meta. As an offensive Grass-type it faces stiff competition from Tapu Bulu, and with Electric Terrain being super common as well as Grass-types such as Mega Venu and Ferro, its ability to put something to sleep with Spore is very limited compared to the last two gens. Without SD, it's walled by common Pokemon such as Clefable, Mega Scizor, and even Ferrothorn. Without Rock Tomb, it can't break Zapdos, and stuff like Volcarona and Zard-Y can basically switch into it for free if Spore isn't an issue. There's just very little reason to use it in the current meta.
- Buzzwole has similar issues to Breloom, albeit functionally way differently. Its defensive typing and bulk is quite useful and allows it to check some prominent top tier threats, but the biggest issues lie in its inability to run every coverage move it wants to run, as well as certain Pokemon such as Lando-T, Tapu Bulu, and Zygarde running ways to get around its walling capabilities. Without Sub, it's never doing anything vs bulkier builds because of how prone it is to hazards, without Poison Jab it's completely walled by Clefable therefore useless vs stall, without EQ it's completely walled by Pex, and without Ice Punch it has no real way of reliably checking Lando-T, Garchomp, or Zygarde.
Tapu Lele A to A+: Split mostly down the middle
Zapdos A- to A: All in agreement
Kyurem-B: B+ to A-: All in agreement
Kartana B+ to A-: Split
Gastrodon B to B+: No one agreed
Mega Gallade B to B-: Most agreed
Excadrill B to B+: No one agreed
Mega Sharpedo B- to C+: All agreed
Hippowdon C+ to B-: All agreed
Primarina C+ to C: All agreed
Starmie C+ to C: All agreed
Breloom C to C-: Mostly everyone agreed or wanted it unranked
Buzzwole C to C-: Mostly all agreed
Zapdos A- to A: All in agreement
Kyurem-B: B+ to A-: All in agreement
Kartana B+ to A-: Split
Gastrodon B to B+: No one agreed
Mega Gallade B to B-: Most agreed
Excadrill B to B+: No one agreed
Mega Sharpedo B- to C+: All agreed
Hippowdon C+ to B-: All agreed
Primarina C+ to C: All agreed
Starmie C+ to C: All agreed
Breloom C to C-: Mostly everyone agreed or wanted it unranked
Buzzwole C to C-: Mostly all agreed
This will most likely be the last update before the Arena Trap suspect ends. Because of this, I don't really have a discussion slate for you guys. The meta is most likely going to change a lot if Arena Trap does get banned, so there will be a lot to discuss in the near future anyway.
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