Resource SV OU Indigo Disk Viability Ranking Thread - (update on post #1002))

I'm curious on why there is a D tier instead of C- tier in this list. Unless I am missing something, but isn't the D tier reserved for mons that are in the tier by rank, but unviable in said tier?


Reviloja753 said:
This is probably a dumb question but what’s Primarina doing in OU and so high up? Did it get some buff that I didn’t see? I’m not complaining I just haven’t seen people mention it before and idk what it does in this meta
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Another thing to add here on top of what Alfa said, but this is notably the first time aside from early SwSh that Primarina no longer has to deal with being in the shadow of Tapu Fini, as the latter is not in the game. Even more notably is that this is also the first time Primarina doesn't have to deal with Toxapex (gen 7 & 8) or the Slowtwins (gen 8) every two games to annoy the absolute oblivion over it. Pex is still viable, but is a shell of its former self both in viability and usage, while the Kanto Slowtwins are straight up nonexistent in the tier. Its natural typing also works very well with the influx of Dragon types that swarm the upper end of the usage statistics.
 
Archaludon looks to be a bit too high from what I'd expected, that mon's really not pulling off the most consistent damage outside of rain, and even in rain it's a momentum sink compared to the other sweepers with pivoting options like Wake and Barraskewda, but maybe I'm wrong, that's just my experience facing it...
 
BolTingBlazie said:
Honestly surprised that Gouging Fire is only A+, feels like an S- threat to me for the bulky sets as well as the sweeper sets providing strong set variety and how easy this mon to fit outside of stall, why is it A+ and not S-?
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The main problem with Gouging Fire from my experience is the fact that it can't really beat everything, as each set permutation has some kind of drawback that makes it a bit awkward to pilot regardless of how effective it is in a vacuum. For example, running Heat Crash is nice on paper but then you fall harder against Great Tusk while needing Dragon-type STAB for Pokemon like Kyurem and Ting-Lu, meaning that if you opt for Earthquake for Heatran or Skeledirge (for example) you will struggle harder into these Pokemon and need more support to break through them. Or if you opt for Flare Blitz, you become more vulnerable to priority and need to heal more often as to not KO yourself from recoil, or you'll just be KO'd faster if you aren't running Morning Sun. And if you're running Morning Sun, you have to drop a coverage option or STAB move. Obviously this is not to dog (haha) on Gouging Fire; it is an excellent win condition and its utility as an offensive check to Pokemon like Volcarona is not to be understated, but it isn't quite on the S-tier caliber imo.

waffle04 said:
For Lando specifically, it works as great blanket check for the new and returning threats like gf, rb, ib and exca while being ok into things like gambit and being able to force them out with a strong eq. Better special bulk, stronger eqs, Intimidate and spikes immunity are its bonuses over great tusk as a do-it-all ground mon.
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In addition to what waffle04 said, Landorus-T's resistance profile with Intimidate makes it really splashable as a defensive pivot. This is pretty big into Pokemon like Archaludon, Iron Boulder, Raging Bolt, Roaring Moon, and Gouging Fire which are really nice Pokemon to have a blanket check for. While it isn't a utility machine like Great Tusk, being a super consistent defensive pivot is definitely enough to cement a stronger niche for it in DLC2.

The_Bookworm said:
I'm curious on why there is a D tier instead of C- tier in this list. Unless I am missing something, but isn't the D tier reserved for mons that are in the tier by rank, but unviable in said tier?
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The purpose of the D-rank here is to distinguish Pokemon that technically have a niche in the OU tier but often require too much support to be worth it in most situations. It's sort of a "use this if you're a god gamer and have extremely specific needs for your team" tier in the context of this VR, but that doesn't mean it's how other VRs have to make use of it.

Ghostly Nariisuu said:
Archaludon looks to be a bit too high from what I'd expected, that mon's really not pulling off the most consistent damage outside of rain, and even in rain it's a momentum sink compared to the other sweepers with pivoting options like Wake and Barraskewda, but maybe I'm wrong, that's just my experience facing it...
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Absolutely not?? I'm not really sure what you're talking about here. It's a flexible Stealth Rock setter, for one, and Stamina gives it insane mileage in the realm of tanking and enabling Body Press as a tool into Kingambit or Meowscarada. With this level of defensive resilience and splashability it can make use of its high power Draco Meteors, Electro Shot to exert pressure and become stronger simultaneously, and options like Dragon Tail as a failsafe for any passivity it somehow has throughout the game. Calling Archaludon a momentum sink with that in mind shows me that you probably haven't tried it, which I would highly recommend doing because it's really good and honestly shapes a lot of Rain's high tier viability rn.
 
Heatranator said:
Wait, where is gholdengo? I can't see it on the tier list.
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i hope this is foreshadowing
MeatOfJustice said:
Why is Blaziken in B rank? I expected it to be lower.
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if you get a swords dance off, it can be really hard to stop because it ends up outspeeding all the revenge killers. and getting a swords dance off is a lot easier than it was in previous gens when you have tera to flip your matchups
 
ausma said:
B- Rank

445.png
Garchomp
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atleast he managed to get in there
 
I think serp is too high still. Looking at all the other guys aside from cinderace and they are all just so so much better than matchup fishing snake. It would be a lot more at home in B+ I think(cind too)
 
I’ve never disagreed with viability rankings as much as now.

Gholdengo feels way too high. It’s got a bad MU vs a lot of the new and returning dragons, and also really dislikes Volcarona and Keldeo being back. It can’t run the same simple sets to crush teams as it could prior to the DLC.

Kyurem is overrated, it’s potent but extremely predictable, needs certain team structures and the most positioning reliant pokemon in the top 20. Not the same as the other S-

unsure why peliper is a rank. Would suggest it to be lower.

a few other nitpicks but they’re less glaringly obvious than the above.

thoughts?

edit: I think skarmory rabking is also short lived. People are catching on that Tera ghost + SD on a lot of physical sweepers (especially our fave steel, dark and ice types ) can 6-0 an skarm team due to the free +6 if it’s not packing whirlwind, I’ve even seen it lose to ghost excadrill because 64pp rapid spin out stalls it, 5% chips at a time.

edit 2: Rillaboom is also better than implied. It needs to be looked at through the lens of a support mon with wood hammer and glide to crack into teams especially when they lose their x4 resists. I think its viability score here is mostly tied to its band set. I’m using a miracle seed set and the flexibility of hammer + glide with u turn and your choice of fighting coverage or knock off is very very useful.
 
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I think Rotom Wash is super underrated right now, I've been running timid offensive volt, hydro, wisp and nasty plot with leftovers, and it's been great vs gambit, hsamurott, tusk, skarm, dirge, landorus, pex, and can set up on and take advantage of mons like gliscor, ting-lu, heatran, clef, and ghold that may not be prepared for nasty plot (especially gliscor gives a huge amount of opportunities), and can even serve as an emergency measure vs something like dragonite or weavile. A lot of this may just be since people don't play around nasty plot, but even then, I feel that B+ or A- is super reasonable given the work it puts in even just as an offensive pivot if there aren't any opportunities to nasty plot (though there usually is) due to the good matchups against much of the top viability mons.
 
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tinyranitar said:
At least Tyranitar managed to squeeze in the B- rank. How is sand doing right now?
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From my experience, not the best but better than before. It got excadrill back of course, which is a god send. Still, despite having one of the most broken mons in sand rush excadrill, if excadrill dies, the team is kinda goofed if it is full sand. However, sand being part of your team instead of your whole strategy could be good. Plus, stuff like houndstone or sandslash are potentially underexplored.
Compared to the other weathers, sand is trash, but on its own merits? I'd say B- is a far spot.
 
Heatranator said:
From my experience, not the best but better than before. It got excadrill back of course, which is a god send. Still, despite having one of the most broken mons in sand rush excadrill, if excadrill dies, the team is kinda goofed if it is full sand. However, sand being part of your team instead of your whole strategy could be good. Plus, stuff like houndstone or sandslash are potentially underexplored.
Compared to the other weathers, sand is trash, but on its own merits? I'd say B- is a far spot.
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Something like Utility Tyranitar + SD Spin Excadrill and a core of 4 good mons (Gliscor, GTusk, Gholdengo, Kingambit for example) works?
 
tinyranitar said:
Something like Utility Tyranitar + SD Spin Excadrill and a core of 4 good mons (Gliscor, GTusk, Gholdengo, Kingambit for example) works?
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From what I could think of, yeah. Sand does not have enough viable abusers, houndstone and sandslash are not great but are the best options. I would say use something like clefable that doesn't worry about sand or even overcoat mandibuzz if you want to get creative (Mandibuzz is probably not a good option, but stuff like that that doesn't care about sand), but it isn't a neccesity. It allows you to play two gamemodes if one doesn't work and means that if tyranitar goes down, you aren't complete dead weight.
 
BolTingBlazie said:
Honestly surprised that Gouging Fire is only A+, feels like an S- threat to me for the bulky sets as well as the sweeper sets providing strong set variety and how easy this mon to fit outside of stall, why is it A+ and not S-?

Also Toxapex and Landorus-T feel a too high on the VR, as honestly they still have the same prominent problems they did last dlc, why do they rank so high?
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It still has too many counters to be considered S-, any physical wall with access to toxic, such as Toxapex or Gliscor can generally shut it down, dondozo shuts it down and it notoriously struggles into rain as well. When we compare it to the Pokemon in S-, the only valid comparison is Kyurem, since they both are bulky wallbreakers. In general, Kyurem feels much harder to switch into compared to Gouging Fire, unless it is in Sun, which requires support. As for the other Pokemon in S-, they are there due to their viability in different roles, which they generally perform better than Gouging Fire acts as a wallbreaker.
 
tinyranitar said:
At least Tyranitar managed to squeeze in the B- rank. How is sand doing right now?
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Alongside supporting sand rush Excadrill, it is quite good at forcing progress against fat teams with beefy Knock Offs and Stone Edges. Its movepool is quite varied so it can mix and match options to bait in common Pokemon or support its team like Twave, Rocks or Dragon Tail. It's dark typing and speed tier allow it to function as a Kingambit check with Low Kick in the lategame as well. Its special bulk is very helpful against a lot of special attackers, in particular the very threatening Volcarona, Kyurem, Raging Bolt and Dragapult. Sand is a good tool to cutoff opposing weathers, all of which are quite popular right now, neutering the offensive potential of rain and sun abusing threats all the while preventing Ninetales from setting up Veil. Ttar also matches up well into the weather setters themselves so that is a plus as well.
 
Zapdos was supposed to be the one, the elder of ou, but the moment there are viable pokemon that hit him super effectively, he disappears? Im glad hes UU, landorus and dragonite next please, lets get these boomers out of OU


skeledirge is now A-, mission successful
 
I won't comment much but I think Garganacl is a bit too low, it still brings the same energy it's brought every iteration of a new meta, it hides in the back until the meta starts becoming a bit cleaner and starts showing how broken it actually is. I think Garg is anywhere between a A- or a B+ but B seems a bit too low and underestimating it in the current meta. Curse sets are still very popular and Tera Ghost Body Press sets are a way to adapt to the current meta. I've also seen usage in the Protect / Stealth Rock sets. Tera Water is still pretty viable vs Rain Teams and you just have to have an answer for Archaludon. Tera Fairy / Water also is decent into Sun like in prior iterations of the meta.
 
:Iron Boulder:
A -> A+
Iron Boulder is a nearly flawless Paradox Pokemon. Amazing Speed boosted further by Quark Drive, great Atk, and actually pretty solid bulk. Its only flaw comes in its typing, being filled with weaknesses especially to common priority. This however is a non-factor in vast majority of games because of Tera. Yeah it’s a limited resource, but it can often be worth it on Iron Boulder as it’s really easy to sweep. Like pretty brain dead tbh.
And Iron Boulder being so fast means it’ll have a great role on plenty if teams, besides Stall. Outspeeding non-existant speed stats like Base 210 is kind of absurd and it also outspeeds Base 93 + Double Speed like Excadrill or Kingdra. I find that the booster energy speed comes in clutch to prevent sweeps from likes of Roaring Moon and sometimes reverse sweep.
 
Archaludon seems quite a bit too high. It's an absolutely terrifying monster on rain, that's to be sure. But outside of rain, Archaludon honestly reminds me of Goodra-Hisui - it sits there, dies slowly, and accomplishes nothing. I would think a weather-dependent breaker would be more like A- or B+, depending on how good that weather is in general.

Samurott-Hisui at A also feels a little bit weird. Fatter teams will just use Gliscor to set spikes, while more offensive teams seem to either use Deo-S or not bother with spikes altogether with how popular boots are right now. The defensive utility of Samurott-Hisui to soft check Gholdengo is still amazing, and the movepool including SD and Priority also keeps it relevant, but it's still a bit hard to fit on a team right now, and therefore I think it could stand to drop a little bit.

Otherwise, things look pretty good. I'd be tempted to put Gliscor in S as well, just because it seems to define the meta so much right now, but it's probably not quite splashable enough to get there. Interested to see how these rankings might influence talks of action in the tier down the line.
 
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