Hi!
I mentioned this stuff to the VR team but wanted to get some opinions on this thread too, so here's an unofficial slate for you guys to talk about!
Rises
Cobalion: A+ -> S - Cobalion has been a dominant offensive threat since its arrival in the tier, but recently it's gotten quite a bit better. Being a solid offensive check to Sylveon is great, and having a much more freed-up item slot due to no longer needing Shuca Berry makes it quite versatile. Occa Berry, Black Belt, Leftovers, Rocky Helmet, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Specs - all of these are just examples of what it can use. It can very easily sweep against non-Doublade teams due to its fantastic Speed tier and ease of setting up, and is overall quite a nightmare to check thanks to having coverage for many answers like Golisopod and Mantine in Stone Edge. It may not quite be on Noivern's level, but it's a good deal better than most of A+, and S may reflect its hold over the meta better.
Gigalith: A -> A+ - Gigalith has cemented its position as the best defensive Stealth Rock setter in the tier by virtue of its great mixed bulk and the fact that it's quite tough to switch into because of its naturally high Attack stat and great coverage options in Earthquake, Throat Chop and Superpower. It does a unique job of checking a whole host of threats like Chandelure, Sylveon and Noivern while not being passive, and it beats most of the tier's hazard removal one-on-one - in addition, it is the single best check to Sun teams in the tier. A+ represents its incredible splashability and defensive utility better than its current A ranking.
Incineroar: A -> A+ - Incineroar is also flourishing as a defensive option thanks to its fantastic typing and utility. It can check a host of threats like Chandelure, Doublade and Espeon, and its strong Knock Off in addition to pivoting options in Parting Shot and U-turn make it very difficult to switch into. Offensive sets using Swords Dance are also seeing much more usage as an effective way to wallbreak while retaining a strong defensive presence, utilising its excellent coverage movepool with moves like Close Combat to threaten a variety of would-be checks like Rhyperior and Gigalith. Its dominance in the tier cannot be understated, and an A+ ranking reflects that very well.
Heliolisk: A- -> A - Heliolisk is an amazing wallbreaker with a surprising amount of defensive utility in Dry Skin and its Normal typing, despite its mediocre bulk. Electric is an amazing offensive typing in this tier, with the Grass-types in the tier being quite abusable by very common Pokemon like Darmanitan, Incineroar and Noivern. Ground-types also cannot switch into Heliolisk because of its access to Grass Knot, OHKOing the main Ground-type in the tier in Rhyperior, with Hyper Voice doing a lot of damage to others like Flygon. It can run coverage to beat many Pokemon that would other stomach its hits decently, like Focus Blast for Incineroar and Cobalion. Its Speed tier is also amazing in this metagame, allowing it to just barely outspeed Cobalion and almost every other relevant Pokemon in the tier, beaten only by Espeon, Inteleon, Noivern and Ribombee. Its versatility and strength make it generally the best offensive Electric-type in the tier, warranting a rise.
Necrozma: A- -> A - Necrozma has seen an uptick in usage recently. Its Dragon Dance set is very hard to stop once it gets going, and setting it up isn't too difficult either thanks to its great bulk, decent typing, access to Moonlight and its amazing ability Prism Armor. Its coverage makes it very difficult to stop defensive, too. In addition, many have been exploring a more defensive Stealth Rock set, which is a unique way to set the hazard while still checking Pokemon like Cobalion and Lucario. It has many other viable options, too, like Choiced sets, Calm Mind variants and more.
Escavalier: B+ -> A- - A lot of recent meta trends have been good for Escavalier. Despite Darmanitan entering the tier and Sun's current dominance, Fire-types are on the decline on most teams, and not many Pokemon run Fire-type coverage (or at least not on all their sets). Its unique typing allows it to check many attackers like Gardevoir and Sylveon as long as they aren't locked into Mystical Fire, and it completely counters the highly-dominant Roserade. It's an extremely effective Steel-type overall in a tier that lacks good options.
Flygon: B+ -> A- - Flygon has been rising as a Choice Scarf user more and more with Mamoswine's leave. Sylveon dropping has been a bit rough for it, but its defensive utility is appreciated more than ever right now - it's one of the only Rock resists that doesn't immediately fold over to Earthquake, it's a Fire resist that isn't weak to Grass etc. and it also revenges Dragon Dance Haxorus without relying on First Impression which is huge. It continues to prove why it's easily the best Choice Scarf user in the tier and is much more on par with the A- group than its current placement.
Pangoro: B -> B+ - Despite living in the shadow of Machamp and Sirfetch'd in early UU, Pangoro has always been a relatively solid pick, though a quiet one. However, it has recently been causing quite a bit more pandemonium (s/o CBU) because of how it utterly destroys most Fighting resists with its nuclear Knock Off, being able to easily OHKO Pokemon like Noivern. In addition, its good coverage allows it to threaten Sylveon with an OHKO, and its access to priority is pretty helpful too. Its typing is also unique defensively and it means it can check certain threats like Necrozma and Polteageist. It's not quite as good as Machamp, but it's certainly proving to be quite a bit more viable than Sirfetch'd as a hard-hitting Fighting-type thanks to its great secondary STAB.
Ribombee: B- -> B - BUZZ BUZZ. Sticky Web may be on the decline but Ribombee itself is still a strong force, able to use its unique tricks to give it a niche over other offensive Fairies like Sylveon and Gardevoir. Access to U-turn and a good secondary STAB in Bug Buzz allows it to either pivot out of or slowly break through Bronzong, a Pokemon often used to check these threats. In addition, Sticky Web can be run on Specs sets to support teammates like Lucario, Haxorus and Chandelure. There has also been some experimentation with Heavy-Duty Boots sets, giving it some versatility. All of this positive traits give it a solid niche in the meta. Plus, who doesn't want the bee to be in B?
Linoone: C+ -> B- - Not much to say here, Linoone's pretty difficult to stop once it gets going and it's a staple on Screens teams. It's got a few checks that it struggles to beat like Cobalion, but chipping Coba isn't the hardest thing to do and there's a severe lack of Normal resists that it can't beat otherwise. It's definitely a niche sweeper but it's got a lot more merit than its C+ ranking would suggest.
Togedemaru: C+ -> B- - Togedemaru has been rising as a scarfer and is seeing quite a bit of usage in UUPL. It's not quite as good as Flygon and struggles a bit with its Speed tier leaving it just slower than Haxorus, but the support it provides to its team with U-turn and Nuzzle/Toxic in addition to its defensive utility thanks to great resistances and Lightning Rod makes it quite the helpful teammate to have. It's also got a specially defensive set that acts as a reliable answer to top threats like Specs Sylveon and Heliolisk. I may be biased, but I think it belongs a little higher than C+!
Silvally-Ghost: C- -> C - Silvally-Ghost is a unique setup sweeper, taking advantage of its ability to blow up traditional Ghost resists with Explosion to pave the way for teammates like Polteageist and Chandelure. It's a solid option by virtue of its strength and bulk and rising one subrank would reflect it a little better.
Drops
Reuniclus: A -> A- - Reuni has struggled with the rise of Dark-types like Incineroar and the general influx of massively powerful wallbreakers it can't really handle because of its awful Speed tier. It also suffers from competition with Espeon and Gardevoir as offensive Psychic-types and has massive 4mss because it wants setup moves, coverage and Recover. It's still a very scary and versatile wallbreaker and bulky threat, but it's slightly overrated at A, even with the recent discovery of different sets like max spdef AV.
Toxtricity: A -> A- - Toxtricity hasn't gotten worse, really; if anything it's gotten a little better with Mamo gone and a new threat in Sylveon that it can kinda wall thanks to its quad-resistance to Hyper Voice, as well as its Shift Gear set picking up traction. This nom is mainly just a readjustment; A was always too high for it. It suffers due to its mediocre Speed tier and lack of defensive utility, as well as being fairly easily checked by mons like Rhyperior and Gigalith. It's much less splashable than Heliolisk as an offensive Electric-type and the rankings should reflect that.
Weezing-Galar: A -> A- - Weezing's in a rough spot. Despite being a great check to rising mons like Pangoro and Incineroar, it just can't check many physical threats like Cobalion, Darmanitan and Escavalier very effectively. It also can't really Defog on any hazard setters. Offensive Weezing is still an A- worthy threat and most teams can't switch into it reliably at all, but it has definitely gotten worse.
Milotic: A -> A- - Milo - and bulky waters in general - are all facing stiff competition from Rotom-Wash rn and are also heavily threatened by it. It's also not really a good check to things like Choice Band Darmanitan and still struggles with mons like Toxtricity and Heliolisk. Feels weird considering I thought this thing was S rank not so long ago, but it's definitely gotten a bit worse and should drop.
Golisopod: A- -> B+ - ;__; I'm sorry pod. Golisopod has gotten a lot worse with Mamo's departure, since a lot of its niche stemmed from being a good switch into Mamoswine. A lot of setup sweepers like Haxorus are running Protect now to prevent Golisopod from checking them, and it doesn't get many opportunities to come into battle. It also can't really check new fast threats like Darm and Sylveon gives lots of teams a sturdy Bug resist, so unfortunately it's just not as good as it was before.
Mantine: A- -> B+ - Mantine probably shouldn't have been this high to begin with. It can't check a whole lot of stuff, with even things like Golisopod ruining its longevity by removing its Boots. It also HATES Rotom-Wash and gets smacked by most of the Fighting-types in the tier, so making use of its typing is pretty difficult. It's still a unique defogger and fat water but just isn't quite up to scratch at A-.
Rotom-C: A- -> B+ - You've heard this story before - it's just not as good as the other elecs in the tier. Rotom-Wash, Heliolisk and Toxtricity give it too much competition, and it's just hard to find a reason to put this thing on teams. It's cool that it can check Rotom-Wash but it's not really bulky enough to do it long-term, and it can't take on Heliolisk or Toxtricity at all. Being weak to Ice Beam also SUCKS on a mon that's supposed to check Waters. It's just not that great atm.
Umbreon: A- -> B+ - Umbreon has seen better days. It faces big competition from (and gets invalidated by) Sylveon as a cleric and Incineroar as a defensive Dark-type. Its bulk is still insane and allows it to check a bunch of stuff, but most teams make more use of the utilty provided by Sylveon or Incineroar than they do with Umbreon's talents.
Indeedee: B -> B- - Indeedee kinda sucks tbh. It's fast but not fast enough, strong but not strong enough and extremely frail with zero defensive utility. Offensive sets aren't great at all. Terrain Extender is an interesting niche to support Polteageist mainly, but that mon has also seen better days for sure, so this one should probably go down too.
Sigilyph: B -> C+ - This breaks my heart bc I loved Sigi but this ranking feels more like a leftover from the slightly-post-Dynamax meta than anything else. Sigilyph can't really break past most teams and has severe 4MSS, and while its Speed tier is solid it's not quite good enough. It has seen some innovation with stuff like Tinted Lens and Defog but it's still not really good at all and can't find its way onto most teams.
Rillaboom: C- -> UR - The monkey is unfortunately completely nicheless. Anything it does is done better by Tsareena or other similar Grass-types, and it should've been unranked as soon as Home dropped.
That's all! You can probably tell but this took like 2 hours and I got pretty tired when writing the last ones lol. Here's a list of the noms and their BBcode so that you can give your opinion a little easier :3
I mentioned this stuff to the VR team but wanted to get some opinions on this thread too, so here's an unofficial slate for you guys to talk about!
Rises












Drops











That's all! You can probably tell but this took like 2 hours and I got pretty tired when writing the last ones lol. Here's a list of the noms and their BBcode so that you can give your opinion a little easier :3
Code:
Rises
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/638.png[/img] Cobalion:[/b] A+ -> S -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/526.png[/img] Gigalith:[/b] A -> A+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/727.png[/img] Incineroar:[/b] A -> A+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/695.png[/img] Heliolisk:[/b] A- -> A -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/800.png[/img] Necrozma:[/b] A- -> A -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/589.png[/img] Escavalier:[/b] B+ -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/330.png[/img] Flygon:[/b] B+ -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/675.png[/img] Pangoro:[/b] B -> B+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/743.png[/img] Ribombee:[/b] B- -> B -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/264.png[/img] Linoone:[/b] C+ -> B- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/777.png[/img] Togedemaru:[/b] C+ -> B- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/773.png[/img] Silvally-Ghost:[/b] C- -> C -
Drops
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/579.png[/img] Reuniclus:[/b] A -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/849.png[/img] Toxtricity:[/b] A -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/110-g.png[/img] Weezing-Galar:[/b] A -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/350.png[/img] Milotic:[/b] A -> A- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/768.png[/img] Golisopod:[/b] A- -> B+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/226.png[/img] Mantine:[/b] A- -> B+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/479m.png[/img] Rotom-C:[/b] A- -> B+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/197.png[/img] Umbreon:[/b] A- -> B+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/876.png[/img] Indeedee:[/b] B -> B- -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/561.png[/img] Sigilyph:[/b] B -> C+ -
[b][img]https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-swsh/icon/812.png[/img] Rillaboom:[/b] C- -> UR -