VR NOMS (Essay Incoming)
-> S
Arguably top 2. Has seen a ton of usage and is just very strong with the direction the tier is going in with Zama being top 1. Can fit on almost every team style and provides a ton of offense, defense and support all in one slot. Bulky NP sets are obviously great into bulkier styles and at trading, but defensive twave hex sets have seen a lot of play lately and is arguably it's best set for its ability to support it's team with status and serve as a wincon with its hex, as well as it's ability to pair very well with other status setters like pult and scor. Also feels like the only “real” steel in the tier for it's ability to resist fairy and ice, which is a godsend against broken Kyu and the offense fairies, as well as being a steel with actually reliable recovery while also having a strong offensive presence, unlike the metal birds. No other steel then Tinkaton and Heatran has this, and Tinkaton is great but weaker statwise and lacks gholds reliable recovery and Heatran is garbage. Also is a steel that actually beats Zama which is fantastic. The only problem is that as a spinblocker it is very threatened by tusk unless it teras, which it doesn't want to do. As well, ghost, dark and ground attacks are literally everywhere in the tier.
-> S-
Maybe a bit much but I think this feels above the stuff in A+. It's the premier defensive piece in the tier and has almost everything you want out of a defensive mon. It gets hazards, status in toxic that perfectly synergizes with eq, has an amazing typing, fantastic bulk, natural passive recovery with its broken ability, is the best knock absorber in the tier, is a status absorber, can knock, is an electric and flying immune in one slot. Literally insane. It can even go offensive with SD sets which are obviously great into balance, but I'd argue those sets are worse because they require more support. The only thing its missing is reliable recovery in roost, but protect with toxic orb comes close. I don't think any other defensive mon provides this amount of utility to a team outside of gholdengo. It's biggest problem is ironically that it can thud into itself -- if it's facing itself on stall it really can't do anything except set up spikes and try pp stalling itself on stall, which the stall gliscor probably wins on. Also using utility sets into teams with SD sets can feel like you got hard counterpicked. As well, a lot of the best mons into the bulky styles it fits best on are naturally great into it, with waterpon, kyu and rai forcing it out with water or ice coverage. Despite that though it provides so much to teams I think it's above everything in A+.
-> S-
Unga bunga hit hard. Bottom of S- because it lacks versatility. Can only run one item, and that item is nuts but it's still a downside and forces it on offense. If you run a bulky team it will live and die by its counterplay into this thing. It has an insanely positive mu into the best bulky mons in the tier and can very much exploit a lot of them, and against balances that are woely prepared against it (which is very common) it's likely it just claims a kill every time it comes in. SD sets are the best, with SD stabs knock probably being the single best fat breaker in the tier and needs to be accounted for when building. However it can get away with a lot because of how much it gets just from sd and it's stabs. Encore is also insane, trailblaze really helps into offense and can help it beat the usual counterplay of stuff outspeeding it, and PR can hit dragons. It can also go uturn which I think is a lot less good but that hits grasspon and other grasses hard which is cool. It also has a surprising amount of defensive utility: resisting EQ while not being ice weak is amazing, water absorb fucks up mola and really hurts other waters in general, resisting steel is amazing for gholdengo, and it's bulk is solid for an offensive mon. Considering that some of the best mons on balance are grounds, it's very easy for it to come in on them if they're setting hazards or clicking eq. Is flawed though; it's speed tier is amazing for its natural power but is very liable to get outsped on offense, and dragons and grasses can annoy it, although things like pult and tea which are commonly thought of as good counterplay are blown up by knock. As well, not that versatile compared to stuff like darkrai, which has a ton of sets it can run as well as a better speed tier. Still insane though and arguably the #1 mon for balances to prep for.
-> A+
Maybe a hot take and odd despite my waterpon nom but feels more indispensable then ever on fat. Even with waterpon in the tier, this thing generates momentum on fat like no other, and wishpassing is incredibly useful for helping your team survive longer then otherwise or eat hits they probably couldn't. Ironically helps a lot against waterpon because of how wish helps it's teammates live hits from waterpon and help to stop it's progress. It gets so much value from wish, flip turn and protect that it's fourth slot is very customizable. Scald is obvious and can make it hard for physical threats to switch in on and is likely to burn stuff like dnite before it can setup enough to stop it, as well as being really good into balance and fat in general, but chilling water/tickle can really stop dd mons like gouging and dnite pretty reliably, and light screen is also a great option as a secondary support for it and it's teammates into dangerous special mons. It's also surprisingly a good check into darkrai bc it's so fat that darkrai needs to rely on a secondary proc to really annoy it, as well as being able to come in on its ice coverage. Also amazing into the many grounds in the tier, especially Tusk. It's problems are obvious though; it's special bulk isn't amazing so it can get overwhelmed by strong special threats. It can also sometimes thud into setup sweepers, and the obvious waterpon really does restrict what it wants to click while being unable to do anything back aside from clicking wish. I'd argue that what it does for fat outside (and even in) that mu is so strong that it deserves to be A+.
-> A
Talked about it to death but it's great into offense and one of the best glue mons in the tier right now, especially for balance and fat. Synergizes very well with a lot of fat staples due to its support with encore, ability to come in on waterpon, ting lu and mola, knock, pivoting capabilities and it's offensive pressure. Strong into a lot of mons that can really annoy fat like waterpon, prim and samu naturally and can tera to hit hard and outspeed very notable and hard to deal with threats like darkrai, pult, zama and even booster tusk. Encore is great at forcing switches and stopping setups, as well as punishing kg for clicking sucker punch. It's also unexplored; the standard pivot set is great but has a lot of options like SD and low kick/play rough to hit things like Kg and kyurem really hard. Problem is that mono grass stab isn't ideal and while it definitely outclasses other offensive grasses and most other knock off users on balance, it lacks ice coverage so it needs to play around scor more carefully and can sometimes thud into it if you can't chip it down. Still amazing though. Also defiant is great.
-> A-/B+
Not bad but just doesn't fit in the tier as well as it used to where it was arguably A+. It's got great offensive stats and ice dark coverage is nasty especially with it getting knock, and ice shard it still cool. The problem is that more often then not it feels like a risky pick. Triple axel isn't very accurate which can be a death sentence when you really like clicking it, especially in a more offensive meta. It struggles into waterpon bc it can't knock it and it needs to rely on axel, which will hit hard but is liable to getting terad on and being blown up. Tying darkrai is nice but bc of how much of a threat darkrai is, you don't just want to tie it and again leads to 50/50s, especially if it packs focus blast. The metal birds being worse is great for it, but moltres arguably replaces them and despite being very vulnerable to knock off, is going to threaten it with flame body especially because taxel hits 3 times so it's likely getting burned if it clicks it, especially with it lacking other non contact options. Gholdengo as the steel of choice in the current metagame is nice for it but the trend towards physical bulk means they actually 1v1 you, as they will live a knock off but you won't live a MIR. Zama exists. Kg beats non low kick variants but without SD you don't do much to mola (obviously knocking it off is nice but its better at eating knock then most mons and it's still a very negative mu). Obviously it has good matchups - ice is great stab, a knock off user that forces out scor is great, and ice shard into moon and non tera dnite is also great, but it's just not nearly as good as it's peak and it's absolutely not in the same tier as stuff like Samu. It's also outclassed by darkrai as a knock user on balance or as a fast dark type in general, which is bad considering how strong and versatile darkrai is.
-> B
This thing is not B+, it's fucking garbage. Setting rocks and trapping is nice but that 4x ground weakness is a death sentence considering how prevalent it is, especially on things heatran really would want to check like Kyu, enam, and moth/gouging. It has no reliably recovery so it needs lefties outside of HO, but it still gets worn down incredibly easily due to the prevalence of hazards with shit like samu and scor. It wants to set hazards to justify its place on the team, but also wants taunt to help break fat, protect for extra lefties or gterrain, wisp to help support the team with status, even lava plume for reliable fire stab. Magma storm is a great move ¾ of the time which doesn't cut it with no more toxic and a more offensive meta. It has some niches as it can use flame body sometimes and it can synergize with waterpon on ho as a lead. It's not good though and that really is it's biggest niche, which is tough when you're competing as a rocker on HO with Lando and the degenerate glimm.
-> B
It's bad I'm sorry. I used to defend this mon but the meta has changed and it's not nice to this thing anymore. Beyond passive outside of spikes, IDBP is nice but its outclassed to put it nicely and a lot carries teras that take advantage of it because of Zama. It's abused so hard by so much it's really sad, and as a spiker on balance you already have stuff like scor and ting lu which are insanely good, and even stuff like clod. It's also a steel type that loses to fairies and kyurem ice coverage. It's an alright knock absorber, but that's it. Even corv is also only really hanging on because it gets uturn, and even then whenever I use corv I feel like I've made a mistake and given in to lazy teambuilding. The only real reason to use this is if you want to run sd scor but don't want to run it with ting lu as the spiker. At least it does okay into moon and beats dnite but like just let it drop at this point.
-> A-
I don't necessarily think it's on a downward trend, I just think it was massively overrated for awhile. It's potentially on an upward trend, and if you asked me a week ago I might have rated it lower. Gouging Fire needs to be respected but I think as a DDer it was largely outclassed by stuff like Dnite and moon, and as a fire on ho iron moth outclasses it. It's largely only seen on HO and it has good traits but really just feels like it thuds a lot of the time. It's very hazard weak, it's bulky but it often can't afford to run healing on ho, it struggles to pick between it's sub par dragon stab and EQ, and it's also forced to pick between reliable damage with flare blitz or a lack of recoil with heat crash, which means that it feels really bad into ting lu. It can't get burned by mola which is nice but tickle sets (which are very legit) manhandle it, prim can trade, there are a lot of grounds and most of them can beat or cripple it depending on the set, and Garg is similarly a staple on balance and can really harm non Morning Sun sets. As well, it's defensive typing isn't bad at all but it certainly is awkward; it's a fire that doesn't resist ice and fairy, which are hands down the typing's best defensive traits, and it's a dragon that's weak to ground, rocks and doesn't resist water, which isn't amazing. It actually does have some cool niches though; quad resisting fire and grass is really nice, especially for rillaboom, especially while not being water weak, and being a dragon that isn't ice or fairy weak is cool. This often means it's only really seen as an HO or sun breaker (Sun sets are still great). However I do think it has seen some cool new tech and has more room to develop new uses. DD Dtail sets are really cool and can exploit roar molt, being a physical attacker that isn't scared of molt or flame body/wisp is great, and I think bulwark sets can potentially have a niche on bulkier teams, where it might seem like a worse molt, but being able to eat water attacks from Samu and come into waterpon with bulk investment is really nice, especially with how much you need to prep for waterpon on those styles (it also just has very nice bulk in general while also being pretty strong and decently fast). I think it's worse then its been ranked for a long time but I think it's getting better. Sun sets are great but if that's all it was used on I'd still put it in B. This has been getting traction for a suspect but I don't think I see it.
-> B
Only as good as sun is; if sun is ranked B, then so is wake.
A cop out because I think it's capped at A+ due to its many problems. It has a nice but pretty awkward speed tier, good bulk with a bad defensive typing and little defensive utility. It's also hazard weak and struggles between picking boots and something that will boost it's power. However I think this is the most broken thing in the tier right now, even moreso then waterpon and darkrai, who are both better and more consistent then it. Kyurem has had a lot of innovation seen since the times when it was only boots or specs and it's started feeling like how volc felt in the leadup to its ban, in that if you are not going full offense there is probably a Kyu set out there that beats you. It's sets are all surprisingly different and tend to lack consistent counterplay across all of them. You may scout with a mon checking for specs only for it to click substitute and reveal that it's actually the sub protect set, or it sets up dragon dance, except it's actually also the mixed dd set and you went mola to click scald and it clicks freeze dry. Or it's dd running tera blast except that the tera type and tera blast is the exact one it needs to blow through your team. Technically a lot of mons need to be scouted but kyurem is unique in having near perfect coverage off of two moves in freeze dry and earth power combined with 130 base special attack, meaning it can be technically unwallable depending on the set. It's hazard weak as well, except it's virtually always paired with tusk or ace so it's not as easy as just getting hazards up, and even if you do, that doesn't necessarily stop it, even if it can limit it's entry. This is also forgetting the possibility it has in just netting a freeze, which is less unlikely then it sounds given it's likely going to be clicking it's stab ice moves a lot, and that can often just force the game into a much harder state for the opposing player. I recently had a game against a sub kyurem that I thankfully won, but the entire time I was painfully aware that it just had to get lucky once to really mess up my team. It's too unpredictable and too able to generate progress for itself, especially if it gets lucky. Council talked about it apparently, which is good, but I really think this should be prioritized for a suspect.
More mons I think could potentially go up:
Mons that could potentially go down:
B > A
A+ > S-
, which is the pokemon du jour for some reason. As a result, I think clicking webs and then some broken sweepers is just as good as any other hazard lead like 
) that pose real threats, andd those are pretty absent atm. Enamorus is more of a clicker than 
or 
since it can either encore it or sd in its face. If it's knock? You lose. Also saccing boots for extra bulk doesn't seem very worth it imo
because corv is unviable garbage that should be in UU, and both of them only really fit on fat balance and stall, but even then, moltres does the job better because of flame body
and 
. It acts as a solid balance breaker that still brings value against offense thanks to its bulk letting it check physical threats. In particular it has a very good matchup against garg, as it both heals off salt cure damage with regen, shrugs off even boosted body presses/eqs, and actually threatens it directly as opposed to gking. I've been trying and liking Yache berry to let it beat bulk up tusk even after being chipped, as well as for catching kyurem and darkrai off-guard. 
raise to C/C+
) and to not get obliterated by rocky helmet as it would with Triple Axel.
raise to B+ ??