Hey, I know that the meta will change a lot with tier shifts in ~8 days but we may as well start the next month with rankings that accurately reflect the meta we have now. Thus, here are a bunch of nominations:
A+ --> S
Mini Tapu Lele is the most dominant special attacker and threat in the metagame now. Specs is absolute hell to check, Scarf fits great on offensive teams while outspeeding the rest of the Choice Scarf Big 4 (Pass, Rilla, Rotom, Indeedee). Great late game cleaner, great wallbreaker. Can cripple its checks with Trick, hit the very few dark types with DGleam and steel types Mystical Fire while dropping Psychic attacks on everything else. Other non-choiced sets like CM LO or AV are also great and can throw off counterplay. Snorlax is somewhat effective against it (watch out for Specs Psyshock) but very, very little else is. Has single-handedly made Silv-Dark, Scrafty, and Malamar viable; with no dark types RU by usage, these guys are what has emerged to try to stop Indeedee from spamming Psychic or Psyshock and taking a life every time. Better than Salazzle. Put this absolute demon in S.
A --> A+.
Partners SO SO WELL with any special attacker that doesn't like Snorlax - forces it out while taking very little and being an absolute pain for the other team (very few counters, possibly only Sableye). Run SD it's better than CB. Drain Punch + Fluffy gives it great durability and lets it stay around long term while still being able to use Double Edge to throw out very powerful hits, doing stuff like OHKOing max/max+ def Plume at +2 if running Silk Scarf. One of the best mons in RU rn. A+
A- --> A (possibly A+??)
Idk if this is unpopular but I think Rhydon is excellent. Run max attack max speed, imo, because an EQ from base 130 Attack is very hard to switch into (especially at +2) and you can KO Mantine with Rock STABs obviously. You outspeed the most common Grass-type, Plume, if it runs max def, 2HKOing with just like 10-15% chip or always 2HKOing if you choose to run Heat Crash. if it speed creeps you can get the 2HKO [plus, you can still outspeed a creeping Plume if you run Jolly ;) ]
It's also a good Salazzle check, taking not too much damage and KOing back, even breaking Subs with Rock Blast (Stone Edge is better to KO Mantine though).
It's the Stealth Rocker with the best offensive presence while also having an excellent Eviolite-boosted defenses, especially Physical. Bewear with Drain Punch loses 1v1 if it has to switch in ... LOL this guy is insane. Rhydon to A definitely, maybe A+.
(fairy) --> B+
As an offensive mon, this thing just gets chipped and doesn't sweep unless your opponent does not have a *deep breath* vileplume, ninetales, salazzle, any steel type (which, hint, every team has because indeedee is a baller), or any physically bulky mon (think mudsdale / rhydon).
As a Defogger, it gets chipped by hazards b/c it can't run boots, gets u-turned on for more chip, and on top of that doesn't hit any hazard setter very hard (except flamethrower, steelix but people are aware of that and it doesn't do that much).
This thing is cheeks, drop it
B+ --> B/B-
what does this set up on? no defensive utility, stacks weaknesses w tier's best mon, requires a shit ton of support. strongest prio user (probably) but unreliable.
B+ -> B
In a meta where Vileplume and Steelix are 2 of the most common and good mons, this thing does not seem like a B+ tier threat. Being able to punish Choiced Fighting / Dark moves is cool. being unable to do > 65% to max def vileplume or > 85% to max def steelix is not great, especially since vileplume has recovery. It can pull things off late game but is deadweight for so much of the game if your opponent has one of the best mons in the tier. CM< Puff, which someone posted in the Lure thread, seems cool and underexplored. But still drop this to B.
B --> B-/C+/C
0 Atk Coalossal Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Ferroseed: 136-168 (46.5 - 57.5%) -- 87.9% chance to 2HKO
LMAOOOO imagine not being guaranteed to 2HKO a damn Ferroseed with a STAB Fire-type attack. This thing has ZERO offensive presence.
Rapid Spin is useful due to its scarcity but it loses to every hazard setter (unless you run Overheat for Steelix, but, even then, you don't switch in). Useful resistances but you will die to Toxic chip from things like Tales/Salazzle. Drop it some distance
B --> C/C-
Abomasnow and Vanilluxe are 1000x better Ice-type breakers due to Lass' super mediocre special attack and reliance on Ice Beam rather than Blizzard. This thing gets Spikes, I suppose, but dies to just about everything and offers no defensive utility to a team beyond ghost-typing (but, again, is super frail, and there are better ghosts like Rotom, Silv-Ghost, Golurk, Haunter, even Dhelmise).
B --> B-/C+
Who uses this? Why would you use it?? Huh
Unranked --> B+
All these mons are really good rn and have to be ranked for sure. Despite currently being unranked they definitely deserve B+.
Malamar can set up on teams with its SpDef Superpower set, which is similar to what Scrafty runs with Bulk Up. Malamar doesn't lose to Growth Plume and isn't 4x weak to DGleam, however, which makes it worth sacrificing Scrafty's better bulk in many instances. It serves as a check to Indeedee with its Dark typing (very very rare in RU now!) and good bulk. Id honestly be open to this in A- LOL it is very good, especially when paired with something that punishes U-Turns (such as Rocky Helmet Garbodor)
Speaking of U-turn, it is not a guaranteed KO, especially if it gets a boost:
252 Atk Rillaboom U-turn vs. +1 252 HP / 0 Def Malamar: 224-264 (59.5 - 70.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Rillaboom U-turn vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Malamar: 332-392 (88.2 - 104.2%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Passimian U-turn vs. +1 252 HP / 0 Def Malamar: 216-256 (57.4 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Passimian U-turn vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Malamar: 324-384 (86.1 - 102.1%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
In the right circumstances this is a much better win con than, say, Flapple.
Lanturn fears nothing the super-common Mantine can throw at it and can freely pivot on it or spread status to build momentum. With Heal Bell, it is one of the only status removers available in the tier. It's one of the best checks to Rotom-N (which had an awesome winrate in RUPL) and Specs Vanilluxe, giving it a definite niche as a bulky water. It can serve as a desperation check to Indeedee due to its excellent special bulk, and can cripple offensive teams with Thunder Wave or Scald burns and defensive teams with status. Its water typing lets it work well as a pivot, giving it a way to punish Ground-types that may block it.
Golurk is an absolute menace with 124 Attack, good speed, and EdgeQuake coverage alongside other shit like TPunch, Ice Punch, Dynamic Punch. Throw a Life Orb on it and watch you get up rocks while kicking every other rocker's ass with EQ and hitting pretty much every Defogger extremely hard. Idk, CB / Rock Polish could also be neat.
Unranked --> B: Drednaw
LegendarySerperior come preach the Drednaw gospel. The turtle, despite little defensive utility, breaks apart the LixTinePlume core that's so common with SD / Stone Edge / Liquidation / Ice Fang off of an excellent attack stat.
DVSToday at 7:28 PM
also dred can run a sr/sd/stone/liquidation set
[7:28 PM
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which can still break plumetinelix
[7:28 PM
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and most teams cant defog against it
Some further room for exploration for any inspired readers: CB with Head Smash, Double Dance with SD / Swift Swim Rain Dance, a rain team with like Mantine / Dred / Qwil (kinda cheese but could be effective!)
Unranked --> B-/C+
Comes in on Plume 100% free, Spikes, and then knocks off the boots of Defoggers like Mantine or Fire-types that are SR-weak and hate switching in.
Ok now some noms that I was pretty lazy while writing but would agree with. Someone else should speak more about them, though.
B --> B+
B+ --> A-
Ok these are both fire but I don't feel like writing very much more. Good speed, good longevity, useful typings, Xatu has Magic Bounce and thus does great v Steelix, Zard can run Toxic+Roost while walling threats like Tales, Specs to hit hard as hell, DD / BD if you're an absolute madman. Mostly would be ranked for Toxic/Roost/HDB Utility, even Defog if you want. This thing is legit
A- --> B+
Dont want to write much about them, sorry, but these are all worse than Rhydon and Snorlax imo.
Escav would be fine in A- too tho either way, stuff like SilvFairy has fire moves more now tho + Zard's emergence is annoying for it (even tho Knock Off is nice). Yeah I'm fine with Escav staying, either way.
[ EDIT:
Feliburn has talked about SD Rillaboom, a set which which seems very interesting (and gets Acro to break thru Vileplume). I don't love Rillaboom as a Scarfer but this may make it worth keeping in A- ]
togedemaru up, it's a nice scarfer if you want to run something different from Big 4. SpDef could also be fun with Wish. Nuzzle is good utility.
