cynde on the drampa train whos next
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Resource SS UU Viability Ranking Thread V2
- Thread starter Hilomilo
- Start date
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Here's our next update! With our second DLC on its way we'll very likely be pausing discussion in this thread for the foreseeable future. Thanks for all the good discussion and enjoy!
Rises
Rises
from A+ to S: Slowbro has become the tier’s most vital defensive Pokemon and one of the most splashable and rewarding fits on several archetypes. It has been huge in shaping cores both thanks to its great synergy with Pokemon like Sylveon and Zarude, as well as the bevy of physical threats it can keep in check, like Terrakion and Mamoswine. Its defensive importance and influence on both meta trends and building are well worth a spot in S.
from A to A+: Cobalion’s role compression has recently been tapped into pretty extensively, with Volt Switch particularly giving it more applications as a pivot. Between its great stats, movepool, and the amount of Pokemon it can check or pressure with its typing, it has a lot to offer and is easily among the easiest Pokemon to fit in the meta.
added to A+: Necrozma has emerged as one of the tier’s most overtly threatening sweepers/wallbreakers, with Calm Mind, Power Herb, and Dragon Dance sets proving fearsome thanks to its great stats and several coverage options to help bypass checks, like Meteor Beam, Earth Power, and X-Scissor. Its fantastic versatility and clear threat level have put it at the top of the metagame, justifying a preliminary spot in A+.
from A to A+: Sylveon has continued its surge as both a top notch wallbreaker with Choice Specs and one of the tier’s best defensive options with its cleric set. It has amazing synergy with other top Pokemon in Slowbro and Zarude, which alongside a key matchup against Noivern has shaped it into one of the tier’s most important and applicable Pokemon in several scenarios.
from A- to A: Incineroar forces progress in matches super consistently between the viability of both its common sets and great matchups against several trending Pokemon, including Zarude, Doublade, and Chandelure. It’s a strong fit on several backbones and is currently just a very applicable role compression mon.
from A- to A: Mamoswine really thrives as a wallbreaker right now without Skarmory around to pivot into it, as well as the huge progress it can force between its access to Knock Off to bypass Slowbro and checking faster threats like Noivern and Roserade with Ice Shard. It’s one of the hardest Pokemon to defensively answer to and a rise reflects its increased prowess.
from B to A: Galarian Slowbro has surged to become one of the metagame’s most important Pokemon, its AV + Future Sight set offering an amazing partner to trending Steel-types like Cobalion and Doublade and a key answer to Sylveon and Roserade. Its Calm Mind set is also one of the tier’s most defining setup Pokemon, while sets utilizing Quick Claw have proven troublesome in their own right. Glowbro just has so much to love right now between its set versatility, great synergy with other popular Pokemon, and fantastic overall utility and is well worth a spot in A to reflect its vastly improved applicability.
from B+ to A-: Copperajah has continued its surge in building value as teams have further capitalized on its great role compression and defensive utility. Compared to other Steel-types it has a great matchup against surging threats like Sylveon, Roserade, and Dragalge, which frees up building a lot and makes it a great fit. The utility it brings atm is well worth a rise into the A ranks.
from B+ to A-: Roserade is great at keeping Zarude/Slowbro/Sylveon cores on their toes with its STAB attacks and has the perfect tools to make progress against even checks with Spikes and Sleep Powder. It has a great place in the meta as a spiker with good matchups against most removal and has only continued surging.
from B+ to A-: Tentacruel is among the most difficult Pokemon to come into between Scald, Sludge Bomb, and Knock Off all being threatening attacks to pivot in on, though it can also make consistent progress elsewhere in a match with Toxic Spikes and its switch-in opportunities against Pokemon like Noivern and Weezing.
from B to B+: Dragalge offers a lot of neat tools between its ability to threaten staples like Sylveon and Zarude, switch-in opportunities against the likes of Keldeo and both Rotoms, and great utility with Flip Turn and Toxic Spikes. There’s a lot it can accomplish in a match and B+ accurately reflects the worth of its tools at this stage.
from B to B+: Ribombee has a great place in the tier as a firm offensive check to a lot of the metagame with its STABs + Psychic-type coverage and amazing Speed tier. It notably matches up well against Noivern, Zarude, Krookodile, and Slowbro and can dissuade a lot of popular Steel-types from directly switching into it.
from B to B+: Talonflame has a solid place in the tier with its fantastic Speed tier and good typing that has yielded solid applications upon further usage. Its a great revenge killer and cleaner that can capitalize on various meta trends, like Cobalion and cleric Sylveon surging and Rotom-W falling off a bit.
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from B- to B, 
from C+ to B-: Sun has sustained its solid niche in UU with Torkoal providing excellent overall support, Charizard being nearly impossible to defensively combat with Solar Power, and Shiftry acting as a highly threatening sweeper that can break through weakened teams with ease. The archetype’s threat level is well worth a ranking upgrade.
from B- to B: Although it can still run into some awkward shortcomings as a Steel-type, keys offers a lot between Spikes, priority Thunder Wave, and strong matchups against several trending presences, including Zarude, Roserade, Ribombee, and Obstagoon. It can still wear itself down rather easily but offers plentiful current tools to warrant a spot on more teams.
from B- to B: Tsareena’s old ranking was underrating it a bit given its strong matchups against hazard setters such as Krookodile and Triple Axel going a long way in preventing Pokemon like Noivern and Roserade from taking advantage of it. It still suffers a good amount from 4mss but can put in enough work offensively to warrant a spot in B.
from C+ to B-: Cloyster still requires a fair amount of support but has yielded some consistency in Snake and on ladder as a good sweeper on hyper offense. Its means of support are decently accessible in the meta which makes it easier to find setup opportunities, while maneuvering around it after a boost can be surprisingly difficult.
from C+ to B-: Tangela can no longer check Lycanroc-Dusk but is still a useful defensive tool in the tier with solid matchups against physical attackers like Obstagoon and Terrakion, as well as a good amount of options for progress thanks to its ability to take advantage of Knock Off, Sleep Powder, and Leech Seed in several scenarios.
from C to C+: Mudsdale has received a lot more recent exploration as a rocker capable of taking on several physical attackers, including Terrakion, Cobalion, and Incineroar. It can even force trades with Zarude and has really established some fair uses both offensively and defensively in a tier without many options for Ground-types.
from C to C+: Salazzle was a bit understated in C given its great Speed tier allowing it to handle Pokemon like Cobalion and Heliolisk well, but also due to the decent threat level it poses with Nasty Plot + Toxic. Its frailty can be difficult to work with at times but it offers a strong offensive presence that can power through tier titans like Slowbro, Sylveon, and Zarude after a boost.
from C- to C: Vileplume sees a small rise on the basis of its defensive tools receiving more recent exploration, with good matchups against Zarude, Keldeo, and the Rotom formes to name a few and a utility movepool that it can capitalize on well as it forces switches. Strength Sap broken btw.
from UR to C: Steelix has a fair niche as a rocker that has the bulk to force trades with several physical attackers, like Zarude and Copperajah, as well as a typing that can prove useful in taking on the likes of Sylveon and Ribombee compared to slightly softer Steel-types like Cobalion.
from A+ to A: The metagame has largely adapted to Keldeo, with several teams naturally fitting multiple checks to it. Noivern and Slowbro being staples of the tier huts it a ton while the steady surges of Tentacruel, Roserade, and Sylveon serve to further disadvantage it.
from A+ to A: The meta doesn’t hugely reward hyper offense to the extent it did a few months back, which has hurt Mimikyu’s splashability a bit, though its frailty and slightly meager Speed and Attack stats have also been capitalized on a lot more recently.
from A+ to A: Rotom doesn’t check as large a portion of the tier as it did in its heyday and struggles to counteract Zarude’s hold over the metagame. Pokemon like Dragalage and Roserade growing more popular also doesn’t do it any favors, complicating its defogging capabilities.
from A to A-: Chansey still sponges special hits like no other Pokemon, but was a little overrated in its preliminary A ranking given how awkward it can be to truly fit on teams and general defensive cores. Teams have also developed solid means of disadvantaging it by taking advantage of its hazard proneness and the surplus of available Pokemon that can overwhelm it.
from A to A-: Krookodile’s in a bit of an odd spot in that it still provides top notch role compression on teams, but is also easy to deal with given the accessibility of mons like Zarude, Sylveon, and Galarian Weezing to name just a few. Being a Dark-type that can’t reliably power through Slowbro is also a bit of a blow.
from A to B+: Mienshao’s fallen off a lot both as a scarfer and a general sweeper. It faces super harsh competition from other Fighting-types with better Speed tiers and typings, and is also hard pressed to reliably break past Pokemon like Noivern, Slowbro, and Sylveon without setup opportunities that it often struggles finding.
from A- to B+: Celebi has suffered a lot from Zarude’s presence, requiring either Pollen Puff or U-turn to bypass it on offensive sets. It’s become a lot harder to build with in any context, and although fat sets with rocks have merit they too face stiff competition from the Slow twins.
from A- to B+: Marowak keeps the tier’s popular defensive cores on their toes but is still too awkward a fit in most scenarios. Its average bulk and poor Speed allow the majority of the offensive metagame to overwhelm it while the additional rocks weakness + vulnerability to trending Pokemon like Incineroar can make it a chore to build around.
from A- to B+: Slowking has fallen off pretty significantly from its former place with Slowbro largely eating into its applicability. Its better special bulk yields some niches in the form of stronger matchups against Pokemon like Keldeo, though it’s generally an inferior option at this point.
from A- to B: Heracross usage has reached its lowest point, largely due to its middling niches in comparison to other Fighting-types. It can shrug off status easily but significantly lacks the same Speed or defensive utility that better options in Terrakion, Cobalion, and Keldeo can often utilize to outperform it.
from B+ to B: Sandcastle’s main niche lies in its great Terrakion matchup but it otherwise faces really stiff competition from other rockers and Ground-types. It invites a lot of top Pokemon in with its typing and passive nature and has poor matchups against removers like the Rotoms and Starmie, making it a really awkward fit in general.
from B to C-: Kingdra sees a pretty huge drop due to its near lack of a niche worth justifying usage. While it isn’t a necessarily bad Pokemon its completely average stats don’t yield much of a niche alongside its underwhelming movepool. Critdra and rain sets make it a fringe pick but otherwise it’s just a super difficult fit.
from B- to C+: Darmanitan’s rather pathetic longevity and overall utility often outweigh its offensive pros, which both makes other wallbreakers and Fire-types much easier to consistently fit and limits its uses to highly offensive builds.
from B- to C+: Indeedee’s wallbreaking potential suffers from the amount of Dark-types in the tier that prevent it from spamming Expanding Force, such as Zarude, Incineroar, and Obstagoon, as well as its complete lack of useful defensive tools.
from B- to C+: The listed bulky Water-types have fallen out of favor due to the immense competition they face from Slowbro, which offers a far better typing, ability, and Teleport. They’ve all just grown far harder to justify and have iffy matchups against top Pokemon like Terrakion and Keldeo.
from B- to C+: Pangoro is another Fighting-type that simply isn’t up to snuff with its competition and is dropping as a result. It faces pretty giant competition from Terrakion as a breaker due to its worse typing and Speed, though it still has its uses thanks to its good defensive utility against the likes of Necrozma, Polteageist, and Chandelure.
from B- to C: Druddigon is certainly unique but doesn’t really offer much as a rocker or Dragon-type that is particularly attractive in the builder. Additionally, while it can chip down the likes of Cobalion and Zarude, its matchups against other top tiers are rather iffy at best.
from C+ to C: Porygon2 and Quagsire are both rather weak defensive options in the meta that have rather specific uses. Porygon2 is massively outperformed by Chansey but can retain a niche with its better physical bulk and damage output, while Quagsire only fits on specific defensive builds but still faces stiff competition in those contexts.
from C+ to UR: Ninetales is a decent breaker on paper but struggles to separate itself from other Fire-types with stronger niches. As a sun supporter it’s hard to justify over Torkoal due to its more expansive support movepool, while Chandelure, Salazzle, and Incineroar all offer stronger tools between their typings, movepools, and overall utility.
from C to C-: Flygon is incredibly middling and has continuously struggled to sustain a niche in the metagame, with its average stats and competition from other offensive Pokemon largely limiting its uses.
from C- to UR: Slurpuff’s niche is far too hard to capitalize on both with the stiff competition other sweepers on hyper offense give it and the large amount of relevant Pokemon capable of combating it, including Galarian Slowbro, Doublade, and Galarian Weezing.
One final update for this thread! After this update, we'll be creating a new thread for the Crown Tundra metagame, though we'll be making a more primitive viability list before that. This is mostly just a micro update to account for recent and minor metagame shifts and serves as a resource for our ongoing tournaments like Snake that are still in the pre-DLC meta.
Rises
from A to S: May come as a surprise to some, but Galarian Slowbro has proven itself to be a menace lately. Between its infuriating Nasty Plot "QCQD" sets that can rip through teams as long as it wins some coin flips, its excellent Assault Vest set that glues offensive teams together, and its particularly devastating Calm Mind set that shreds virtually the entire tier outside of Gastrodon, it's clear that Galarian Slowbro has a previously unseen level of versatility and viability. It belongs in S alongside Noivern and its Kantonian counterpart, a sign of its recent, incredible dominance.
from C+ to B+: Another huge jump especially for a Pokemon that just rose in our last shift, but Mudsdale has really taken off lately. After losing our de facto Ground-type when OU snatched Rhyperior, teambuilders were left scrambling for alternatives, and nothing really jumped out until Mudsdale rose to prominence. Now it stands tall as the premier defensive Ground-type in the tier and is particularly notable for its great matchup against hyper offense thanks to Stamina, in addition to not being passive thanks to its great coverage and solid base 125 Attack. It's a huge jump, but the horse's winrate and usage in tournaments has proven that it deserves it.
from UR to C-: Braviary's still super niche, but it has its place on some hyper offense teams as a Choice Scarf user thanks to Defiant. UU has a general lack of sturdy Flying resists, so switching into a +2 Brave Bird from Braviary's phenomenal Attack stat is incredibly challenging. It's restricted to very particular team types, but it works pretty well on them, so it gets a spot in the rankings.
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Drops
from A to A-: Galarian Weezing's still got some solid traits, being a reliable Defogger or Toxic Spikes setter and being pretty annoying to switch into with the addition of Corrosive Gas to its movepool. It's falling off primarily due to its lack of splashability; it's a big momentum drain, it's really hard to justify over Sylveon, and it's a Fairy that can't really check Noivern well at all. It still fits on fatter teams, but for now A is overrating it a bit.
from B+ to B-: Escavalier has had this coming for quite a while now. It's barely getting any usage on ladder or in tournaments, and it isn't too hard to see why. It's not really great at being a Steel-type at all because of how awful it is at handling Pokemon like Mystical Fire Sylveon, Noivern, Necrozma, Galarian Slowbro, etc. and it's generally impossible to fit it on teams as a result. It can still fit on certain bulky offense teams alongside Pokemon that can patch up its flaws like the aforementioned Galarian Slowbro, but it's really just generally worse than Cobalion, Doublade, or Copperajah, so it's experiencing a hefty drop as a result.
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As mentioned before, we'll be creating a new viability list within the coming days, so stay tuned for that. We hope you're all enjoying the Crown Tundra meta!
Rises
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Drops
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As mentioned before, we'll be creating a new viability list within the coming days, so stay tuned for that. We hope you're all enjoying the Crown Tundra meta!
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