Resource SV CAP Viability Rankings

[Waldinji]

Stratagem: B+ -> A-

Might be a Stretch , especially since (I'll admit to it right away) I love my gimmicks. But hear me out on this Logic.

Stratagem has obviously the anti-Offense Niche everyone is Familiar with for Stratagem. But I believe there's Untapped Potential for it as an endgame cleaner via another set. Choice Specs.

I got told Prior to Discussing it here that Specs makes it more prediction reliant , While this is 100% True and the main drawback of Specs Stratagem , The immediate Power against Something like Specially Defensive Iron Defense Venomicon (To take an example obviously) or the Ability for Flamethrower to Instantly Threaten out Non SpDef Equilibra is a nice asset teams can definitely be Exploited Mid-Game as a lure. But Obviously , This would require more specific Teammates , such as a way to chip Equilibra Consistantly (Knocking Off its leftovers , U-Turning into it over and over and over again , That also helps with Arghonaut , who is a reliable switch in to even Specs Giga Drain.) There's Immediate Flaws to Specs Stratagem , and By Experience , I have to confirm that the inability to be flexible when it hits the Field After a Slower U-Turn or a Double Kill (Or if you're really brave , a well predicted earthquake) is a massive issue for it. However the Upsides are just as big / Can probably make up depending on the game.

Obviously , The main asset for Specs Stratagem is Spamming Paleo Wave Lategame , which does enormous damage to the frailer Resists Used Lategame , such as Specs Iron Valiant , Non-Sun Abusing Walking Wake or If Equilibra / Arghonaut is dead. It obviously Invalidates other genres of Hyper Offense once the one faster mon that Stratagem is dead (Rain only has Floatzel as a Faster Mon most of the time , Things like Booster Energy Speed Valiant , Dragapult or Various Scarfers from Jumbao to Zoroark-H. Once the game has been set effectively , Specs Stratagem Can be a Menace. And Thanks to the Bit of Defensive Utility it has (Spikes Immune while abusing Spikes Itself (A really nice Trait for any offensive Pokemon)). The Ability to Immediatly Threaten out Threats like Venomicon , Frailer Neutral Targets like Walking Wake with no speed Boost , Krilowatt , Roaring Moon , and it can also serve as a partual Wallbreaker right off the get go against Much Bulkier Neutral Targets like Garganacl and Jumbao Just to name these two.

It can be a bit difficult to Build around it , But from experience , Especially if you save the Tera Rock for it in Particular , The Lategame Cleanup Potential is Really high. If there's any disagreement / Will to talk further about this , I'm open to Discussion about this. The reason this would be pushing to A- is that it'd be one more set on a Mon that can already run Either CM or 4 Attacks , and the Immediate Damage can serve as a Surprise Factor

 

[Da Pizza Man]

S- -> A+
Garganacl is still a good mon, don't get me wrong, but as people have sort of learned how to play around it better, it really doesn't feel like it has quite the presence that it used to.

A+ -> UR
Without Poltergeist this mon is straight up dogshit

A- -> B+/B
Garchomp really just isn't all that good. As a hazard setter, while I wouldn't call it bad, it just faces a whole lot of competition and doesn't really stand out from the crowd, and what doesn't help is that it's matchup against Hatterene really isn't all that good. As a Ground-type, it doesn't really get a whole lot of mileage out of Rough Skin right now just due to the metagame being primarily composed of Special Attackers right now, and it doesn't have a whole lot elss to offer over other Ground-types. Also, SD Garchomp is pretty much entirely outclassed by DD Baxcalibur and Scale Shot Miasmaw, and honestly isn't even worth talking about.

B+ -> A-
Backing up Waldinji, I think a rise for this mon is very much warranted. Specs is surprisingly good this gen, but what I think really makes it shine is the place it has on Hyper Offense. Meteor Beam is just as strong, if not arguably stronger than it was last gen, and Shed Tail support from Orthworm is a godsend for it. Also, it's really strong with Tera without really feeling like a Tera hog.

B -> A-
Orthworm is the current face of Hyper Offense, and I think that having it this low is really underselling what it brings to the playstyle as a whole. Words cannot express just how much value can be granted with Shed Tail, and even outside of that, it serves as an okay rocker and as an emergency check to some mons. I was originally planning to suggest bringing it up an entire subrank, but I felt that might be a bit too much, so I figured that bringing it up to A- is a decent compromise.

C -> UR
This sees no play, and there's very little reason to use it when Floatzel does its job but better.

 

[MC Squared]

Wait did Poltergeist get removed? I saw it on Revenankh's moveset on Showdown

EDIT: Saw the council thread. Damn went from viable to useless. Mini buff process when lol

 

[Waldinji]

Iron Leaves: C -> B

Once again , I need to clarify I love my gimmicks , but I think Iron Leaves is Criminally underrated.


The Obvious set , +Speed Proto with SD is very strong as an endgame cleaner , able to take over games if certain factors are removed (status spreading , Salt Cure , if possible the terastalazation to not have a surprise Tera Steel who walls it if you don't use tera fire Tera Blast / Tera fighting close combat) and , at emergency serving as a revenge killer to very fast Pokemon like Dragapult and Most Scarfers. Both these jobs means it has a place on offense / Hyper offense , Patching other fast , But Weak to revenge Kill Pokemon like Stratagem. Speaking off , The match up against opposing offense is fantastic if your team can fit Iron Leaves. Most of offense relies on Passive Pokemon like Grimmsnarl , Orthworm (who shouldn't be able to be desperate (aka click Shed Tail) by the time Iron Leaves comes into the game) to start their offense , and thus its surprisingly easy to get Swords Dance with Iron Leaves , despite its many weaknesses and only decent Bulk. On top of this , It can also use the main and by far best rapid spinner in the game , Equilibra as set up fodder if either equilibra is forced to rapid spin for its teammates or if it tries to chip Iron Leaves Itself for the benefit of Priority Users like Colossoil.

Althought all these positives should mean Iron Leaves is fairly Splashable , especially with how good offense is , There's a few factors holding it back , and It'd feel dishonest to not clarify them first.

- The Lack of Attack Proto: What this means is , despite having a good type against Arghonaut , a Healthy Arghonaut can force it out with Circle Throw and there goes the one chance of sweeping fast offense , And it obviously means Other unaware Pokemon Completely Scuff it like Skeledirge for example. Another Problem of the lack of attack Proto is the sometimes lack of Power , An example is not being able to OHKO PhysDef Venomicon with +2 Psyblade (It's rolls , but it happened in certain games) or Really Packing a punch against Bulky Neutral Targets tier like Equilibra , Cyclohm , and Defensive Naviathan. But Running Attack Proto leads to the next Problem with Proto sets:

- The Lower Speed: While I can't call Iron Leaves "Slow" , considering how This gen has lower Base speed top tiers from OU than The last few gens , 104 Speed is sometimes Lacking without the speed Boost , Being Slower than Krilowatt for example is Particularly painful for it. And even with the Speed Proto , The problem of being outspet and revenge killed can still apply with Speed Boost Valiant or Dragon Dance Roaring Moon. Amain reason why this problem is so Important is because If you have Iron Leaves , Usually , you use it to try and either clean up an endgame entirely or as you had a free switch in against a passive Pokemon that can't take on Leaves too well to then get to the clean up endgame part with the rest of your offense. But if it can't help get you into either because There's an Unrevealed Iron Valiant for example , It can feel like you're playing 5V6.

- All or Nothing: I mentioned it already when talking about the lack of Attack Proto , but you only have 1 Chance at Iron Leaves doing its job , While some people might say "But you can do it in such a way so Iron Leaves comes Mid / Lategame only , right ?". And I'd agree with them , if Phazing moves weren't at an all time High , Garchomp , Ting-Lu , Arghonaut being the main ones obviously and the issue with Phasing if you have to face it is that Iron Leaves can come in against a Full Health Team , and , as I previously Said about the problems , It'll lack either crucial Power unboosted or even more importantly , The speed that makes it such a good endgame cleaner. And It's not like Leaves can set up on The Phazing Mons in the first place because they're phasing Mons to begin with. And that often leads to cases where you Play without 5V6 until your gameplan about lategame can be met.


Are all these significant flaws that need to be Kept in Mind when Teambuilding with Iron Leaves ? Absolutely
Is there hope for Iron Leaves being better ? Also Absolutely. And I believe we need to see Untouched Potential in the form of non-Booster Iron Leaves sets. Now I hear you say "That would make it Inconsistant , you're going too far into Gimmicks , Waldinji". Well , I have 2 Sets that could fix some problems you have in mind with inconsistancies. HDB and Band.
- HDB First: This set would make use of the Good Bulk Iron Leaves has against Defensive Pokemon alongside its newly found Hazard Immunity to do 2 Things. The first and most obvious one being find more places to set up , since for example you dodge a 2HKO from even the most offensive Equilibra variants (Max SpA Modest) , and thus it can use its ability to even tank some super effective Moves like Krilowatt's Ice Beam , even with Krilowatt's Favorite Friend , Spikes to Favor its match ups against certain pokemon. Another benefit is not forcing as much pressure on your rapid spinner for Iron Leaves to be able to do Damage consistantly throughout more of the game.
- Choice Band: While this set has yet to be tested by the time I write this , We (I and other competitive acquaintances of mine) did Theorize that Band Can be used for a sole , but effective Purpose. Wallbreak. Since we don't have the necessity of the 160 EVs in attack to get Proto Speed and thus can run Max Attack , We can see the real Power of Base 130 Attack with a decent stab Combination against most of the Metagame , and while there are good resists to both Stabs , Cawmodore , Skeledirge , Jumbao for Grass and Colossoil , Gholdengo , Equilibra for Psychic to only name these , You can abuse the 50/50 against a Neutral target in range of either stab like Weakened Garchomp (Who you don't need that much chip anyway for a Kill with Band Psyblade) to either take a free kill or threaten a free kill and see the exploitable reaction if there's a switch.

I'd say there's a lot of Hope and Potential for Iron Leaves , I've been Loving using it Lately , and I think this , even tho there's flaws to the most standard set of Iron Leaves , The ability to threaten all sorts of teams regardless of its set and , if Proven Viable to high levels competitions , the variety of sets and thus Impredictability will make Iron Leaves imo a B Tier.

 

[Zmaslan256]

Hydregion: UR -> B+

I am shocked and appalled that no one is talking about Hydreigon. This mon has been seeing a rise in usage in OU, so I decided to try it out in CAP, and it works just as well. The standard Scarf and Specs sets are obviously still good, slamming the many Ghost types that populate the tier, but the reason Hydreigon has been seeing more usage is because of its Substitute + Nasty Plot set. Hydreigon's solid speed and bulk combined with its typing + amazing Tera options in Tera Poison and Steel allow it to consistently set up Substitutes in the face of mons like Garganacl, Toxapex, Clodsire, Amoongus, and Equilibra. From there it can attain several boosts and wallbreak like no other wallbreaker can, slamming everything that doesn't quad resist or has Unaware for massive damage, all while behind a Sub. Hydreigon can also run a trapping set with Fire Spin, allowing it to trap passive walls and set up even easier.

Hydreigon isn't perfect, and is arguable worse in CAP than in OU, as the existence of Jumbao as both a defensive and offensive check is very detrimental. Infiltrator users like Dragapult or the rare Volkraken, or multi-hit users like Baxcalibur and Miasmaw can pose a massive threat to Hydreigon, even when behind a Sub.

Still, the many switch-in opportunities that present themselves to Hydreigon combined with its massive potential as a wallbreaker warrant this mon moving up to B+, or at the very least, not being UR.

 

[spoo]

Hydreigon is definitely a great BO/offense option right now. It hadn’t really picked up by the time CAPCL ended but I think people are feeling less argh paranoia atm and seeing more reason to use hydrei in general. NP + dark pulse + earth power + flash/sub/draco/roost is a neat offensive response to stuff like skeledirge, amoong, pex etc. Imo the biggest thing holding it back is that it’s a little too slow into many of the worm HO builds running around, and can struggle into certain bao + argh builds (counterpoint: get spikes up), but yeah I agree with the B+ placement, it 100% has a niche.

The VR is pretty outdated in many other ways so I’ll be aiming to push an update this week or next. Worm should really be A-/A, argh and garg are def not S- rank anymore (imo garg has been underperforming for a while now), rev is obviously no longer A+ having been nerfed, gambit and baxcalibur are way too low, there’s more stuff too but those are the ones that first come to mind. The meta is in a very strange spot currently, seeming to revolve almost entirely around shed tail offense, so I’m curious to see how the next slate will shape up.

 

[Da Pizza Man]

B -> UR

Shed Tail has been banned. Good riddance.

 

[Waldinji]

Krilowatt: A+ -> Top 10 (yes , I'm seriously believing that)

Am I going too far with this shrimp ? Probably. But I said SO MANY TIMES I could make a case for it being top 10 , so here it finally is.

Krilowatt has always been seen as a very dangerous pokemon in Gen 9 , Despite the only average stat spread its running , But the more I Played with Krilo , The Higher rated I always tended to see it.

Let's start with the few flaws before going on a rampage of Positives.
- The Speed: While It is definitely faster than a lot of other pokemon Viable in CAP , Pokemon like Colossoil , Gholdengo , Great Tusk , Plasmanta , Hydreigon , Defensive +1 Saharaja and more. It can be sometimes lacking against really offensive and fast threats like various Scarfers and Threats like Iron Valiant or Stratagem , Just to name these two.
- The average Bulk: I'm aware this thing has a massive HP Stat , decent at best defenses and one of the best abilities in the game to compensate for Its average Bulk. However , The average hit Taking Ability really Hurts Krilowatt when asked with Tanking a hit , and killing back faster targets like Iron Valiant after Spikes Chip (I'm NOT Saying Krilo is frail , Far from it) , What I'm saying is that the struggle to take very strong attacks can leave it out of certain Games , Such as teams Focused around Pokemon like Specs Valiant , Specs Stratagem or Even sun teams , as they have 2 Wallbreakers on every single team (as I believe Sun teams NEED Specs Iron Moth and Band Roaring Moon)
- Dual Stab Resist/Immunities: While Pokemon like Plasmanta , Clodsire or the Most Niche of all , Saharaja , aren't very common , They're still a Major Major Thorn in Krilowatt's Sight , Being able to take its most Spammable attacks , Surf and Tbolt and take advantage of it in Some Capacity (free healing for Clod and Saharaja and more devastating , a free SpA Boost for Plasmanta off of Surf , while All of them take Either 0% Or Negligable damage from Volt Switch). I do see a reason why these mons are used in the first place is because of Krilowatt Itself being really stupid to deal with

These are Obviously major flaws that hinder it from being quite possibility the best CAP in the tier. However , Its offensive traits are absolutely Incredible and Imo make it top 10.

- Magic Guard: Let's start with the most Obvious Benefit , Having one of the best abilities in the game , Magic Guard. This Ability turns Its best Item , Life Orb from Exploitable to play around , Like it would against Other enormous threats that commonly ran Life Orb in the Past , such as Mixed Infernape , to Not a factor whatsoever and allows it to get a free 30% Boost on Every single hit it'll do , Allowing its hit taking ability (which is still decent for a pokemon that only invests in SpA and Speed) to be as Intact as it can be. Another Major Benefit of Magic Guard is ... You switching because There's a Clodsire or a SpDef Mollux and you're not running earth Power means literally Nothing , even in the face of Hazards , once again , Allowing the hit taking ability to be as Efficient as possible. And How can I not mention this , It also Completely Scuffs Salt Cure the pokemon short of Tera (or whatever its called).
- Tera Flexibility: While Tera Flying on it is Fairly Easy to understand why you would run it , I Personally Believe tera Water is what Push it to its greatest High. Tera Water Krilowatt , if There's no resist to water on the opposing side (A rare sight considering how good certain of the Water Resists Are (Mainly Jumbao and Krilowatt itself)) or that you predict well and chip the opposing resists into Range of Surf lategame , Krilowatt can become very dangerous to Handle in an Endgame where everyone except itself is chipped by Hazards , allowing Hazards to push its targets into Kill range of even Ice Beam on Pokemon like Great Tusk or Colossoil , meaning (as an example) Offensive Jumbao cannot switch in Safely Lategame as it always gets 2HKOd by Ice Beam from it , Making playing around it even more difficult than it already is thanks to Magic Guard removing Life Orb Recoil and Giving it Boots WHILE ALSO Absorbing Status when you let it be Poisoned thanks to Opposing TSpikes.
- Good damage Threshold: I'm aware everyone probably saw it , but The stats , while not the best Looking by any Stretch , Especially when compared to Other offensive Pokemon , even just in the CAP List , Pokemon Like Stratagem look like they would just outclass Krilo just by virtue of having way better distributed stats. All this would be true , However , Krilowatt still deals Significant enough damage to Everything it needs to (an example is reaching 70% on even The bulkiest Equilibra , OHKOing AV Great Tusk with Tera Water or 2HKOing Many Water Resists With Ice Beam , such as Offensive Jumbao , Dragapult , Iron Leaves , Miasmaw just to name these 4.

I wanna clarify that the scumbag that's Pokemon Home will probably come out soon , and we have no idea how Both CAP32 (As well as others in the future) and that many of the new Pokemon will be Viable in CAP (Zapdos , Lando-T Just to name the main 2) , and while it may Introduce competition to Krilo Hazard Stacking Teams (which I believe is the best Teamstyle at Pushing Krilowatt as high as it can go) , I don't believe a single Second that krilowatt Will not be Right back to being a top tier with Home once Regieleki is banned.

 

[shnowshner]

Yo I hate to break it to you, but Kril is already in the Top 10, since A+ rank and above consists of 10 Pokemon. (The VR is fairly outdated right now anyway, though.)

 

[Waldinji]

Oh , Oops , That's my bad. I just thought with the a new VR Soon and that Krilo (as far as I saw) didn't have the best performence in CAPCL , I was a bit ahead thinking it would drop out of top 10

 

[spoo]

The shed tail ban threw off our update schedule, so this is the first one in a while! Many changes here, as always just ask if you're curious about any of them.

Newly Ranked

• Cawmodore UR -> B-
• Hydreigon UR -> A-
• Necturna UR -> C

Rises

• Great Tusk A+ -> S-
• Iron Valiant A -> S
• Hatterene A- -> A
• Kingambit A- -> S
• Volcarona A- -> A+
• Corviknight B+ -> A-
• Meowscarada B+ -> A-
• Toxapex B+ -> A-
• Amoonguss B -> B+
• Baxcalibur B -> A-
• Colossoil B -> B+
• Dondozo B -> B+
• Glimmora B -> B+
• Miasmaw B -> B+
• Grimmsnarl B- -> B
• Azumarill C -> B-
• Crucibelle C -> B-
• Polteageist C -> B-
• Slowking C -> B

Drops

• Venomicon S -> A+
• Arghonaut S- -> A+
• Garganacl S- -> A
• Equilibra A+ -> A
• Jumbao A+ -> A
• Krilowatt A+ -> A
• Revenankh A+ -> B-
• Gholdengo A -> A-
• Cinderace A- -> B+
• Garchomp A- -> B
• Greninja A- -> B
• Hisuian Zoroark A- -> B+
• Snaelstrom A- -> B+
• Venomicon-Epilogue B+ -> B
• Orthworm B -> UR
• Smokomodo B -> B-
• Breloom B- -> C
• Chromera B- -> C
• Iron Treads B- -> C
• Kitsunoh B- -> C
• Quaquaval B- -> C
• Sandy Shocks B- -> C
• Scizor B- -> C
• Iron Leaves C -> UR
• Mollux C -> UR

 

[Waldinji]

... I have only one question concerning this new VR , And it's Kingambit in S. I'm just not sure what makes it top 3 in CAP. As much as I try to see logic behind it , for example how you can't even beat it with unaware because Supreme Overlord or how you can use it for Hazard Stacking with Defiant to Punish Defog , especially with Kingambit himself abusing hazards really well (for the few teams that STILL don't use the 2 Best spinners in the game in Tusk and Equilibra). But I always see major Drawbacks to both of these (Supreme Overlord meaning Kingambit can't be used for its decent Defensive utility with Max HP against Certain threats like Strata once Its power herb has been used or even Krilowatt (just to take these 2 as examples) and Defiant is obviously niche since everyone now runs Spin on Either Tusk or Equilibra (Some teams use other spinners , But the point remains). I know in OU , It's like N°2 , but I thought the different top tiers meant Kingambit was harder to use than the rest of the top 10 and thus wasn't top 10. I'm just curious what was figured out for it to be top 3.

 

[singaporygon]

... I have only one question concerning this new VR , And it's Kingambit in S. I'm just not sure what makes it top 3 in CAP. As much as I try to see logic behind it , for example how you can't even beat it with unaware because Supreme Overlord or how you can use it for Hazard Stacking with Defiant to Punish Defog , especially with Kingambit himself abusing hazards really well (for the few teams that STILL don't use the 2 Best spinners in the game in Tusk and Equilibra). But I always see major Drawbacks to both of these (Supreme Overlord meaning Kingambit can't be used for its decent Defensive utility with Max HP against Certain threats like Strata once Its power herb has been used or even Krilowatt (just to take these 2 as examples) and Defiant is obviously niche since everyone now runs Spin on Either Tusk or Equilibra (Some teams use other spinners , But the point remains). I know in OU , It's like N°2 , but I thought the different top tiers meant Kingambit was harder to use than the rest of the top 10 and thus wasn't top 10. I'm just curious what was figured out for it to be top 3.

Sorry this isn't a reply with much thought, but what first comes to my mind is that I believe Gambit may be even more of a last-mon-Tera cleaner in CAP than in OU, with Tera Fairy/Flying being likely.

 

[Waldinji]

Sorry this isn't a reply with much thought, but what first comes to my mind is that I believe Gambit may be even more of a last-mon-Tera cleaner in CAP than in OU, with Tera Fairy/Flying being likely.

I guess the Supreme Overlord Sucker Punch Differenciates him from other endgame cleaners in CAP like Stratagem or a Spin-set-up Colossoil (Just to take the first 2 That come to mind) , I just don't see why You'd save tera for Gambit when you can for example Hazard Stack and Tera-Water Krilo and be good to go for Most of your Mid-games , and the more I played , The more I noticed (just to take that teamstyle as an example I have experience with) you can't truly save tera for lategame , and a pokemon like Gambit (from that statement) feels like it NEEDS this lategame tera that most teamstyles can't afford.

 

[ryangregory78]

-> A/A-

Maybe I'm jumping the gun a bit, but as it stands right now I'm really bullish on the little guy. PixieSpeed is a fantastic tool to have in the current metagame, and it makes Hemo a great answer to not only Pult and Val, but also makes him a really solid offensive check to Pao and Wake, which is huge in a meta where they're as powerful as they are. Bitter Blade is also just a really funny move, healing massive amounts of HP off of Bao, Libra, and Corv, while also letting it bop Gambit and weakened Glowking once set up. Hemo also has the benefit of being able to come into the battle pretty safely against the likes of Val, Pult, Pao, Moon, Bao, opposing Hemo, and non-Tera Ground Volc, giving it a number of opportunities to set up per battle. Unfortunately, he does have the problem of not really being a threat against fat mons until he can get a couple of boosts, and really can't the likes of Tran, Dozo, Pex, Garg, and Snael for much of any relevant damage, though Knock is a really nice option for forcing progress against these Mons. I haven't personally tried Special sets yet, but I'm sure they're pretty solid, too.

I think that BU Hemo immediately threatens enough of the offensive metagame to warrant being A rank, but then again, they still really can't touch a lot of fatmons without at least a couple of boosts, and the Special sets that can get blown apart by offense, so I could see the reasoning behind A- as well. Overall, a very solid Mon, and definitely warrants a pretty high placement.

 

[spoo]

Hey everyone, we finally have an updated VR for the post-HOME metagame! We're going to take another vote on this after CAPPL and the CAP32 Playtest are finished, but a revamped VR was overdue at this point. As always, questions and nominations of your own are encouraged!

 

[spoo]

Big big post-CAPPL changes!

quziel, snake, Rabia, and Steam Buns have stepped down from the VR council, while Joeshh and Darek have joined the team! Potatochan also technically joined, but he didn't vote this slate, and I don't know if he'll stick around –– either way, thank you to the former VR members for helping out for so long, and congrats to all the new faces! We also now have beautiful art by Swiffix, yay!

Rises

• Venomicon S- -> S
• Dragapult A+ -> S-
• Equilibra A -> A+
• Hemogoblin A -> A+
• Slowking-Galar A -> A+
• Walking Wake A- -> A
• Iron Moth B+ -> A-
• Cresselia B -> B+
• Miasmaw B -> B+
• Cawmodore B- -> B
• Moltres-Galar B- -> B
• Slowking B- -> B
• Snaelstrom B- -> B
• Azumarill C -> B-
• Grimmsnarl C -> B-
• Pyroak C -> B-
• Rillaboom C -> B-

Drops

• Heatran A+ -> B+
• Iron Valiant A+ -> A-
• Toxapex A -> A-
• Enamorus A- -> B+
• Jumbao B+ -> B-
• Landorus-Therian B+ -> B
• Tornadus-Therian B -> B-
• Venomicon-Epilogue B -> B-
• Saharaja C -> UR

 

[Reapsteel]

Hi, in the VR it appears Plasmanta isn't ranked. It should be in B or B+ right? Anyways once it gets ranked I might make an argument for it to rise.

 

[Darek]

Hi, in the VR it appears Plasmanta isn't ranked. It should be in B or B+ right? Anyways once it gets ranked I might make an argument for it to rise.

You can nominate a rank for a pokemon even if it's not currently ranked on the VR. Plasmanta's not on the VR because it's not really viable at the moment. While Plasmanta's Magnet Rise + 3 Attacks set isn't necessarily bad, it's pretty much strictly outclassed by Krilowatt, which is faster and has Magic Guard, Volt Switch, and a STAB that can threaten Ground types. Choice Specs/Scarf sets are very weak due to a heavy reliance on prediction to make any sort of progress and an unexceptional Speed tier. The water immunity is nice but Rain isn't used nearly enough for it to be a worthwhile pick for teams. I could see an argument for C rank but that's the highest I can see it.

 

[Waldinji]

Krilowatt: A -> A+

After finally getting over my wake hate and Building a Krilo spikes team again , I realized it's criminally underused right now. And I know, It's not a Hemo Check , Home added a few really good checks , something krilo didn't even have before home & Wake makes the sun match-up not as Lobsided for Krilo as it used to be. However , Krilo has still a LOT of advantages that makes it worthy of A+ status imo

- Hemo is Krilo's new best friend: Let's start with the main reason I believe Krilo is underrated. Hemogoblin & Krilo is an absurd pair to deal with. The reason is they give each other switch-in Opportunities. Think about it , What checks Krilo for the most part ? Glowking , Wake , Dragapult as a revenge Killer , Defensive Tera like Fairy or Grass on pokemon like Argh & Heatran respectively. Other than Glowking (and every single well-built team around Krilo+Hemo needs a Glowking check / Counter) , Every Mon I listed gets beaten down by Hemogoblin. And The opposite is just as true , Pokemon like Heatran , Hemo Itself & Dirge are easily threatened by Krilo , Making the pair significantly difficult to deal , not to mention Volt Switch Krilo pushing both its own counters & Hemo's switch-ins opportunity in range of other attacks like Ice Beam & PixieSpeed respectively.

- Spikes are still an easy fit: While Krilowatt is absolutely Incredible & Deals surprisingly High damage , It does miss out on Certain OHKO or 2HKO Thresholds ... Here's where spikes come in. Spikes are seen as Krilowatt's best partner & in my opinion a Necessity if you run Krilowatt (not that they're hard to fit obviously). And There are Many good spikers for Krilo to team-up With: The New Offensive Spiker on the Block , Samurott-H Serves as an incredible offensive threat that notably Beats Glowking (one of the very few Good Krilo Counters) & Thanks to pokemon like Gholdengo & Defensive Staples like Heatran , Veno or Argh , It has gained switch-ins & Opportunity to click Ceaseless edge. Not only is it a good spiker , It's a good spiker that Libra can't spin against thanks to Aqua Cutter being as powerful a move as it is thanks to the Sharpness Boost. Of Course Hisuian-Samurott is the notable new Spiker , but Older ones are still absolutely excellent , from Arghonaut's Hugely Impressive defensive profile Allowing Spikes Opportunity to Ting-Lu's Vessel of Ruin making every Special Attacker Spikes Bait or Even Astrolotl's defensive variant's incredible Longevity thanks to boots + Regenerator , Allowing the set-up spikes throughout a game. The last 3 have something in common , They can all easily chip the opponent into disadventageous positions in some way , shape or form (Argh has Knock Off & Circle Throw to both remove boots & Abuse spikes , Ting-Lu has Whirlwind & Astrolotl has not only dragon Tail , but U-Turn to bring the offensive threats in , Notably Krilo himself

 

[spoo]

Finally a post-DLC VR update!!!! Who's excited?????? Woooooo yeahh baby yeaaahhhhh!!!

A steady stream of bans and relatively little CAP tournament play post-DLC have made it difficult for the metagame to really take shape lately, so that's why this update is so delayed. As a result, there are a few housekeeping things I should mention:

First one being, it's actually been so long since our last VR update that I haven't had a chance to announce the departure of dex from the VR team, which happened a long while ago, but we wish him the best nonetheless! Potatochan has also departed from the VR team after not voting a single time, we reluctantly wish him the best as well. On the other hand, pannu has officially joined our ranks after heavy involvement in the metagame for a while now, yippee!

It's also worth mentioning that this update was voted on pre-Roaring Moon ban, so the VR is probably already out of date! We love to see it. Alright now buckle up kids, here we go:

Newly Ranked:

• Gliscor UR → A+
• Manaphy UR → A
• Ogerpon-Wellspring UR → A
• Ninetales-Alola UR → A-
• Ogerpon-Cornerstone UR → A-
• Ogerpon UR → B
• Ribombee UR → B
• Empoleon UR → B
• Mollux UR → B-
• Kommo-o UR → C
• Mandibuzz UR → C
• Frosmoth UR → C
• Munkidori UR → C
• Tyranitar UR → C
• Weavile UR → C

Rises:

• Hemogoblin A+ → S
• Krilowatt A → A+
• Gholdengo A- → A+
• Cinderace A- → A
• Iron Moth A- → A
• Ting-Lu A- → A
• Malaconda B+ → A-
• Stratagem B+ → A-
• Astrolotl B → B+
• Rillaboom B- → B+
• Tornadus-Therian B- → B+
• Meowscarada B- → B
• Alomomola C → B
• Ceruledge C → B-
• Colossoil C → B-
• Moltres C → B-

Drops:

• Kingambit S- → A+
• Great Tusk A+ → A
• Slowking-Galar A+ → A-
• Garganacl A+ → B+
• Walking Wake A → A-
• Zapdos A → A-
• Dragonite A- → B+
• Rotom-Wash A- → B+
• Toxapex A- → B+
• Zamazenta A- → B+
• Ursaluna A- → B
• Cresselia B+ → B
• Enamorus B+ → B
• Hoopa-Unbound B+ → B
• Volcanion B+ → B-
• Cawmodore B → B-
• Corviknight B → B-
• Greninja B → B-
• Slowking B → B-
• Snaelstrom B → B-
• Moltres-Galar B → C
• Azumarill B- → C
• Basculegion-F B- → C
• Clodsire B- → C
• Garchomp B- → C
• Jumbao B- → C
• Pyroak B- → C
• Scream Tail B- → C
• Arcanine-Hisui B- → UR
• Grimmsnarl B- → UR
• Hydreigon B- → UR
• Mew B- → UR
• Sandy Shocks B- → UR
• Armarouge C → UR
• Articuno-Galar C → UR
• Hawlucha C → UR
• Iron Treads C → UR
• Lilligant-Hisui C → UR
• Scizor C → UR
• Thundurus-Therian C → UR
• Zoroark-Hisui C → UR

Phew, that sure was a lot. As always, I encourage you to ask about any of the changes if you're curious! Happy capping!

 

[Porpoise]

So I haven't really touched CAP since last gen so quick question
How did Malaconda become good? What changed?

 

[shnowshner]

So I haven't really touched CAP since last gen so quick question
How did Malaconda become good? What changed?

Short answer is Protosynthesis abusers like Walking Wake, Roaring Moon (before it got banned), and Great Tusk, along with powerful Fire-types in Iron Moth, Hemogoblin, Ceruledge, etc. let Sun thrive in ways not seen before. Malaconda is preferred over Jumbao right now due to its greater utility movepool (notably Parting Shot for safe pivots, Glare to spread paralysis, Knock Off to spread Knock Off) letting it serve as a better team player and get around problematic Pokemon with far greater ease (Jumbao is a heavy momentum sink into Venomicon whereas Mala can annoy it in three different ways).

 

[spoo]

heyyy it's been a while (too long, sorry!)

Newly Ranked

• Archaludon UR → B
• Clefable UR → A- (somehow this wasn't here before oops)
• Cresceidon UR → A+
• Darkrai UR → B+
• Deoxys-Defense UR → C
• Deoxys-Speed UR → A+
• Excadrill UR → B-
• Gliscor UR → A+
• Gouging Fire UR → A+
• Hawlucha UR → B-
• Hydrapple UR → B-
• Iron Boulder UR → A+
• Iron Crown UR → B-
• Iron Treads UR → C
• Keldeo UR → B-
• Kyurem UR → A+
• Latias UR → B-
• Latios UR → B-
• Lilligant-Hisui UR → B-
• Metagross UR → C
• Necrozma UR → B-
• Primarina UR → B-
• Raging Bolt UR → B+
• Reuniclus UR → B-
• Roaring Moon UR → A+
• Serperior UR → A-
• Skarmory UR → A-
• Volcarona UR → A

Rises

• Tornadus-Therian B+ → A-
• Enamorus B → B+
• Meowscarada B → A
• Mollux B- → B
• Barraskewda C → B-
• Basculegion C → B-
• Clodsire C → B-
• Weavile C → B+

Drops

• Venomicon S → S-
• Hemogoblin S → S-
• Gholdengo A+ → A
• Krilowatt A+ → A
• Cinderace A → A-
• Iron Moth A → A-
• Manaphy A → A-
• Ogerpon-Wellspring A → A-
• Ninetales-Alola A- → B+
• Ogerpon-Cornerstone A- → B+
• Samurott-Hisui A- → B+
• Stratagem A- → B+
• Garganacl B+ → B
• Rillaboom B+ → B
• Toxapex B+ → B
• Zamazenta B+ → B
• Alomomola B → B-
• Amoonguss B → B-
• Cresselia B → C
• Empoleon B → UR
• Glimmora B → B-
• Hoopa-Unbound B → C
• Ogerpon B → UR
• Ribombee B → C
• Ursaluna B → B-
• Slowking B- → C
• Volcanion B- → C
• Basculegion-F C → UR
• Floatzel C → UR
• Frosmoth C → UR
• Iron Hands C → UR
• Kommo-o C → UR
• Mandibuzz C → UR
• Munkidori C → UR
• Polteageist C → UR
• Pyroak C → UR
• Scream Tail C → UR

 

[spoo]

Beware the shifting shadows, whispers unfold, five weeks' toll, a tale yet untold. In CAP's arcane domain, rankings take flight, Quziel, a new enigma, joins the council's might. Pannu's departure, a cryptic decree, dark forces whisper, a council transformed, you see.

edit: we forgot to rank plasmanta oops! it's at B now

Newly Ranked:

• Venusaur UR → B-
• Pecharunt UR → B
• Blaziken UR → C
• Comfey UR → C

Rises:

• Hemogoblin S- → S
• Gliscor A+ → S-
• Malaconda A- → A
• Ogerpon-Wellspring A- → A
• Skarmory A- → A
• Slowking-Galar A- → A
• Walking Wake A- → A
• Heatran B+ → A-
• Miasmaw B+ → A-
• Landorus-Therian B → B+
• Mollux B → B+
• Rillaboom B → A-
• Skeledirge B → B+
• Zamazenta B → B+
• Garganacl B → B+
• Alomomola B- → B
• Barraskewda B- → B
• Clodsire B- → B
• Hawlucha B- → B+
• Latias B- → B
• Pelipper B- → B
• Primarina B- → A-
• Venomicon-Epilogue B- → B
• Snaelstrom B- → B+
• Iron Treads C → B-

Drops:

• Venomicon S- → A+
• Cresceidon A+ → A
• Deoxys-Speed A+ → A
• Gouging Fire A+ → A
• Arghonaut A+ → A
• Krilowatt A → A-
• Ting-Lu A → A-
• Iron Boulder A+ → B+
• Meowscarada A → B+
• Cinderace A- → B+
• Serperior A- → B+
• Tornadus-Therian A- → B+
• Manaphy A- → B
• Zapdos A- → B
• Darkrai B+ → B
• Enamorus B+ → B
• Ninetales-Alola B+ → B
• Ogerpon-Cornerstone B+ → B
• Rotom-Wash B+ → B
• Astrolotl B+ → C
• Excadrill B- → C
• Greninja B- → C
• Hydrapple B- → C
• Iron Crown B- → C
• Cawmodore B- → C
• Reuniclus B- → C
• Amoonguss B- → UR
• Basculegion B- → UR
• Lilligant-Hisui B- → UR
• Azumarill C → UR
• Jumbao C → UR
• Metagross C → UR
• Moltres-Galar C → UR
• Deoxys-Defense C → UR