I made a post a few pages ago specifically highlighting the defensive set ive been running and it cant be highlighted enough, yeah its offensive sets are pretty meh compared to other dragons but they do exist and can put in work but the defensive set just does so much work. Eq doesnt trigger debris, it can set up rocks on any lead that isnt bounce or an actual counter. It can take a +1 hit from most neutral physical sweepers and phase them with tail pretty consistently. The double chip of skin/helm punishes every spinner and uturn spammer pretty hard and adding rocks means barring some fat mons the weasel and fish can then just clean through entire teams. Most of the defensive threats cant effectively deal with it, and while chomp cant ko outright it can just keep phasing them and use them to set up rocks. I keep saying rocks because while spikes are solid, rocks are more consistent to get up and freeing up the 4th spot for jab/liquid/fire blast is a really solid choice to close up some gaps. Chomp is definitely solid and i stand by my nom early for the half a step raise even after more testing. And imo the more the meta settles the better its going to get and if we get lando i still see chomp staying above c.
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adding to the chomp discussion, it also makes a sicknasty alternative to glimm for hazards ho, with sash instead of helmet. gonna just quote from a post i made ages ago.
It needs to run heavy duty bolts to not take 25 percent every time that it switches in. Since hazard stack with gholdengo is so common, it is quite likely that there will be rocks on the field. Chien pao wants to use a choice band or life orb, but taking that much chip from hazards simply takes away its staying power. Also, its defenses aren’t the greatest, so you can’t switch into an attack and then fire back. You need a clean switch in to make an impact.
tera dark choice band chien-pao 2HKOs literally every pokemon in the metagame. it's not that hard to facilitate either since you can pair it with bulky hazard removers such as great tusk and corviknight. don't see how it isn't S- potential when its power is on par with that of chi-yu's while also not being particularly hard to support.
That why its C and not like B+, lol. Trapping Corvi is still pretty valuable, or at least corcino him to go Tera. Also, he can trap some Random Tera Steels too and forces Scizor not to get locked into Bullet Punch.
Limited pokedex more than anything else.
Intimidate + TauntDD might not always sweep, but it's never really deadweight because Intimidate + Taunt + good typing is surprisingly good utility.
Ground types (Tusk, Tinglu etc) are seeing a lot of use this gen and none of them can do anything to him.
Though the biggest change this gen is the absense of Ferrothorn.
The advantage is the psychological pressure that Mag forces onto Steels. Scizor can’t spam CB bullet punch for risking Mag coming in for free. Corviknight cannot click Roost for the same reason, which severely hampers it as a wall.
might as well post my first noms for this generation (all of which being rises because i can't think of any pokemon that could drop right now)
A- -> A
fantastic form of hazard control in this metagame. considering that removing rocks is nigh impossible, being able to bounce back rocks is invaluable right now. calm mind sets are better than ever thanks to hatterene's great bulk, solid defensive typing coupled with her fantastic usage of terastallization. all of these go hand in hand in making hatterene one of the best pokemon at keeping hazards off your side of the field and she can put in a lot of offensive work by setting up with calm mind. hatt's MU spread against most meta-relevant pokemon is also very solid across the board, beating great tusk, iron hands (who we'll get to), clodsire, amoonguss, grimmsnarl, etc. and only loses to a handful of pokemon (even less with tera). i think she's in a really good spot right now and could afford to rise
B+ -> A
iron hands boasts a fantastic STAB combination, wide movepool, excellent bulk and potent breaking power. its 154/108/68 bulk is astounding and its ability to back this up with a staggering 140 attack stat makes it all the scarier to go against. it can run choice band for immediate power that allows it to threaten common physical walls such as dondozo and corviknight or it could opt for a swords dance set to boost its power even further. losing to great tusk definitely holds this pokemon back due to how common it is but it can definitely put in some work for your team when it comes to breaking teams apart
A+ -> S-
its (currently) unresisted STAB combination coupled with its great bulk makes the threat of boosting its rage fists all the more apparent since it's likely not going down in one hit. bulk up allows it to bolster its bulk even further and allows it to hit even harder, and taunt shuts down all forms of defensive counterplay. its access to defiant means it can switch in on corviknight defogging and put immediate pressure on the opponent. honestly surprised it hasn't rised yet considering how easily it can snowball out of control
A+ -> S-
banded sets are crazy powerful due to chien-pao's ability sword of ruin making it nearly impossible to check defensively. if it terastallizes into a dark type for the additional STAB boost on crunch then it at least 2HKOs every pokemon in the game regardless of whether or not hazards are up on the opposite side of the field. its only issues are its lack of bulk making it hard to bring in safely and its weakness to hazards. corviknight alleviates this issue entirely, thanks to the support it provides with defog (although i'd advise using it in tandem with great tusk or hatterene for additional hazard control) and its slow u-turns bringing pao in safely. the fact that this pokemon can 2HKO the entire game with minimal setup or support is crazy. and don't get me started on how strong SD sets are without dondozo. i can't see this pokemon moving anywhere but up
A- -> Afantastic form of hazard control in this metagame. considering that removing rocks is nigh impossible, being able to bounce back rocks is invaluable right now. calm mind sets are better than ever thanks to hatterene's great bulk, solid defensive typing coupled with her fantastic usage of terastallization. all of these go hand in hand in making hatterene one of the best pokemon at keeping hazards off your side of the field and she can put in a lot of offensive work by setting up with calm mind. hatt's MU spread against most meta-relevant pokemon is also very solid across the board, beating great tusk, iron hands (who we'll get to), clodsire, amoonguss, grimmsnarl, etc. and only loses to a handful of pokemon (even less with tera). i think she's in a really good spot right now and could afford to rise
B+ -> Airon hands boasts a fantastic STAB combination, wide movepool, excellent bulk and potent breaking power. its 154/108/68 bulk is astounding and its ability to back this up with a staggering 140 attack stat makes it all the scarier to go against. it can run choice band for immediate power that allows it to threaten common physical walls such as dondozo and corviknight or it could opt for a swords dance set to boost its power even further. losing to great tusk definitely holds this pokemon back due to how common it is but it can definitely put in some work for your team when it comes to breaking teams apart
A+ -> S-its (currently) unresisted STAB combination coupled with its great bulk makes the threat of boosting its rage fists all the more apparent since it's likely not going down in one hit. bulk up allows it to bolster its bulk even further and allows it to hit even harder, and taunt shuts down all forms of defensive counterplay. its access to defiant means it can switch in on corviknight defogging and put immediate pressure on the opponent. honestly surprised it hasn't rised yet considering how easily it can snowball out of control
A+ -> S-banded sets are crazy powerful due to chien-pao's ability sword of ruin making it nearly impossible to check defensively. if it terastallizes into a dark type for the additional STAB boost on crunch then it at least 2HKOs every pokemon in the game regardless of whether or not hazards are up on the opposite side of the field. its only issues are its lack of bulk making it hard to bring in safely and its weakness to hazards. corviknight alleviates this issue entirely, thanks to the support it provides with defog (although i'd advise using it in tandem with great tusk or hatterene for additional hazard control) and its slow u-turns bringing pao in safely. the fact that this pokemon can 2HKO the entire game with minimal setup or support is crazy. and don't get me started on how strong SD sets are without dondozo. i can't see this pokemon moving anywhere but up
I've been laddering a lot in the past few weeks so I'm here to give my 2 cents on the metagame as a whole.
Rises:
from A to A+: this mon is just great rn, but I disagree with people saying it deserves S-. while I do think it's a premier defensive option in the current metagame and that his tool kit is absolutely insane, its over reliance on terastelization makes it far more manageable in my opinion. switching into salt cure is a pain in this ass, but seeing this on the opponent's team usually means it's the Pokemon that will tera at the end of the day, which gives the other player far more room to play around it. I think the biggest part of most games is figuring out who's gonna tera, and while this is one of if not the best tera user, knowing it's the one who most likely will due to his poor original typing makes it a lot less threatening in practice than it should be. on top of that, the metagame has been consistently adapting to it and makes it very hard for this mon to perform as well as it should on paper. still a solid A+ mon tho, cuz as predictable as it may be, it's still a pain in the ass to take down and leaves you a lot of room in the builder to contain threats that would beat it after it tera'd, but not anything close to being S-.
from A to A+: I don't see why so much people think this mon should drop. it's still extremely good, and while gholdengo being everywhere limits how much it can do, its access to u-turn usually just completely shifts the advantage into Gholdengo's opposition in my opinion. more often than not, the gholdengo player will find itself in a position where it just has to switch into corviknight to maintain hazards and it being able to just pivot out and enable a lot of breakers like meowscarada, chi-yu, dragapult, cb moon, chien-pao etc... makes it really hard for most gholds to switch in reliably all the time, leaving kind of a lot of room for it to defog at the end of the day. this mon just gives the player a lot of room in the builder thanks to how much it's able to keep in check in practice, and most people really underestimate that power. I don't this mon is any worse than it was in SS, and it will only get better and better if chi-yu/ape get banned in the near future (which should happen in my humble opinion).
from A- to A/A+: I think people already figured out why this mon is so good rn. in a hazard heavy metagame, magic bounce is such a great tool given that most form of "conventional" hazard control are just shut down by gholdengo. it's also in my opinion only second to garg when it comes to slow set-up sweepers. cm stored power / cm nuzzle sets are just way too good against balance, which we've seen a lot recently on both ladder and no johns. it being extremely potent against the big majority of hazard setters, and also a very splashable/reliable mon is what makes worthy of A+ in my opinion, but I could see it only being A rank for now.
from B to B+/A-: I think this mon was done dirty in the first slate. it's still a toxapex guys, and while it's more passive than it's even been, I do think it matches up well into most current top threat. recovery pp dropping isn't that big for it, as it wasn't really over relying on it thanks to regenerator, and it can still switch in and out to scout moves and send a more reliable answer. the metagame is currently shifting to a more balancey state and I think per is still one of the best mons out there for those type of teams. it can reliably switch in on locked chi-yu/ghold a few times, it's still one of the premier dragapult/valiant/quaquaval/azumarill/scizor/volcarona/iron moth/chien-pao checks, and it being one of the only mons with toxic make it a very interesting tool in and into bulkier teams.
from B to B+: this mons just a really good pivot and breaker rn. taunt boots and cb are getting a lot more exploration and the protean nerf with tera isn't as bad as most people think it is. flower trick is such a spammable move even into resistances, and it's access to taunt + knock + turn make it a really annoying mon for bulkier teams which as I said earlier is kinda where the metagame's states' at rn. this mon's a force to be recogned with, it matches up well into current trends and deserves a rise imo.
from B+ to A-: I'm not as convinced on this one, but I do think this mons' good enough to warrant a rise. cb sets snowball so quickly, and I do think it's the current best rain abuser we have rn. most teams aren't correctly prepared to face this guy, and playing vs it can escalate so quickly if you don't have one of dodonzo/amoongus/toxapex/(wa)clodsire which are clearly on the drop these days.
from A- to A: this mon's so much better than all the A- mons in my opinion. it's super easy to slap on teams and never disappoints in practice thanks to its insane type matchup into current trends. it's definitely one of the best pivots in the tier and definitely at least one of the most splashable ones. its lack of recovery hurts a little, but it's still really potent and doesn't struggle at all finding a position where it can enable the best breakers in the tier. scarf sets are also a great force to be recogned with as it allows rotom to keep in check most slow set-up sweepers (ape/hat/garg/sd hands/bulkyrona) and bulkier structures thanks to trick and to revenge kill some huge threats like chien-pao/chi-yu. outspending scarf gholdengo is also really cool.
from B+ to A-: this mons a bit underrated, it offers so much into offense/ho and is also really easy to slap on teams from my experience. it's incredibly hard switching into this mon, and just like rotom has a typing that matches up really well into current trends (being able to switch into chien-pao/valiant/espathra/meowscarada/baxcalibur at least once and being able to semi-consistently revenge kill dnite and roaring moon makes it a really valuable asset in my opinion to most offensive/bulky offensive teams.)
to A: this mon's a premier pivot, and sd is actually a really interesting tool with tera. cind does so much damage and actually has the speed to back it up (tying with moon is really good). but what I feel pushes cinderace into the A ranks is court change. this move is so much more useful than it was in ss because of how hazard heavy the metagame is. having cinderace transform into a normal type is also not bad, as it kinda forces the great ghost types (dragapult and gholdengo) not to use their normally super easily spammable ghost moves. fire spin sets are also really fun to use into more balancey teams, and although that's a lot more niche I thought I'd mention it as it's a set that was used in the past to some degree of success.
now onto some drops:
from A+ to A: the ostrich demon struggles to find great opportunities to set-up and as eeveeto pointed it out well, relies a lot on tera/screens/shed tail to perform decently. it has low damage output, isn't that bulky, but I still think this mon's still able to get out of hand really quickly, which I why I think the A- drop suggested by Eeveeto is a bit too harsh. it still requires a bit of guessing games to deal with, and getting one turn wrong can make this thing go nuts extremely quickly. however, I don't think it's anything close to the other A+ ranks (probably baring kingambit) and therefore should drop imo.
from A- to B+/B: this mon is sooo inconsistent. it struggles to find openings, its dual stab isn't that great offensively and dnite/dragapult being everywhere clearly doesn't help it. its speedtier while pretty good is kind of annoying, as it doesn't outspeed that much for how "small-ish" damage it does and for how physically frail it is. it's also really hard to fit on teams, as it requires a lot of supports and pivots to make it work, and it's usually not worth wasting a spot when there are better fire types out there (chi-yu/cinderace/regular volc). I would advocate for a drop to B rank, but I could see people would want to keep it a bit high as B+, cuz a pivot with tspikes that does a lot of damage is always cool to have into the bulkier trends of the metagame.
from B+ to B/B-: I would honestly consider just swapping this guy with pex cuz its not really useful into the current trends. the tier being filled with super strong dark and ghost types usually forces slowking to tera to remain a useful piece of a team, which is something you want to avoid as much as you can while building as the mindgames offered by tera are quite unique and a big big part of how the current metagame plays. future sight/pivot isn't nearly as good as it was in ss, and slowking's niche suffers a lot from that. add that to the fact that it simply doesn't have a lot to keep in check as most special attackers just outright beat it and force it out and you just have a mon that becomes really niche at best.
other noms I agree with, but I don't have time to elaborate on them (will probably make another post when I have more time)
keep in C
to A-
to S-
to A
to UR
Rises:
from A to A+: this mon is just great rn, but I disagree with people saying it deserves S-. while I do think it's a premier defensive option in the current metagame and that his tool kit is absolutely insane, its over reliance on terastelization makes it far more manageable in my opinion. switching into salt cure is a pain in this ass, but seeing this on the opponent's team usually means it's the Pokemon that will tera at the end of the day, which gives the other player far more room to play around it. I think the biggest part of most games is figuring out who's gonna tera, and while this is one of if not the best tera user, knowing it's the one who most likely will due to his poor original typing makes it a lot less threatening in practice than it should be. on top of that, the metagame has been consistently adapting to it and makes it very hard for this mon to perform as well as it should on paper. still a solid A+ mon tho, cuz as predictable as it may be, it's still a pain in the ass to take down and leaves you a lot of room in the builder to contain threats that would beat it after it tera'd, but not anything close to being S-. from A to A+: I don't see why so much people think this mon should drop. it's still extremely good, and while gholdengo being everywhere limits how much it can do, its access to u-turn usually just completely shifts the advantage into Gholdengo's opposition in my opinion. more often than not, the gholdengo player will find itself in a position where it just has to switch into corviknight to maintain hazards and it being able to just pivot out and enable a lot of breakers like meowscarada, chi-yu, dragapult, cb moon, chien-pao etc... makes it really hard for most gholds to switch in reliably all the time, leaving kind of a lot of room for it to defog at the end of the day. this mon just gives the player a lot of room in the builder thanks to how much it's able to keep in check in practice, and most people really underestimate that power. I don't this mon is any worse than it was in SS, and it will only get better and better if chi-yu/ape get banned in the near future (which should happen in my humble opinion). from A- to A/A+: I think people already figured out why this mon is so good rn. in a hazard heavy metagame, magic bounce is such a great tool given that most form of "conventional" hazard control are just shut down by gholdengo. it's also in my opinion only second to garg when it comes to slow set-up sweepers. cm stored power / cm nuzzle sets are just way too good against balance, which we've seen a lot recently on both ladder and no johns. it being extremely potent against the big majority of hazard setters, and also a very splashable/reliable mon is what makes worthy of A+ in my opinion, but I could see it only being A rank for now. from B to B+/A-: I think this mon was done dirty in the first slate. it's still a toxapex guys, and while it's more passive than it's even been, I do think it matches up well into most current top threat. recovery pp dropping isn't that big for it, as it wasn't really over relying on it thanks to regenerator, and it can still switch in and out to scout moves and send a more reliable answer. the metagame is currently shifting to a more balancey state and I think per is still one of the best mons out there for those type of teams. it can reliably switch in on locked chi-yu/ghold a few times, it's still one of the premier dragapult/valiant/quaquaval/azumarill/scizor/volcarona/iron moth/chien-pao checks, and it being one of the only mons with toxic make it a very interesting tool in and into bulkier teams. from B to B+: this mons just a really good pivot and breaker rn. taunt boots and cb are getting a lot more exploration and the protean nerf with tera isn't as bad as most people think it is. flower trick is such a spammable move even into resistances, and it's access to taunt + knock + turn make it a really annoying mon for bulkier teams which as I said earlier is kinda where the metagame's states' at rn. this mon's a force to be recogned with, it matches up well into current trends and deserves a rise imo. from B+ to A-: I'm not as convinced on this one, but I do think this mons' good enough to warrant a rise. cb sets snowball so quickly, and I do think it's the current best rain abuser we have rn. most teams aren't correctly prepared to face this guy, and playing vs it can escalate so quickly if you don't have one of dodonzo/amoongus/toxapex/(wa)clodsire which are clearly on the drop these days. from A- to A: this mon's so much better than all the A- mons in my opinion. it's super easy to slap on teams and never disappoints in practice thanks to its insane type matchup into current trends. it's definitely one of the best pivots in the tier and definitely at least one of the most splashable ones. its lack of recovery hurts a little, but it's still really potent and doesn't struggle at all finding a position where it can enable the best breakers in the tier. scarf sets are also a great force to be recogned with as it allows rotom to keep in check most slow set-up sweepers (ape/hat/garg/sd hands/bulkyrona) and bulkier structures thanks to trick and to revenge kill some huge threats like chien-pao/chi-yu. outspending scarf gholdengo is also really cool. from B+ to A-: this mons a bit underrated, it offers so much into offense/ho and is also really easy to slap on teams from my experience. it's incredibly hard switching into this mon, and just like rotom has a typing that matches up really well into current trends (being able to switch into chien-pao/valiant/espathra/meowscarada/baxcalibur at least once and being able to semi-consistently revenge kill dnite and roaring moon makes it a really valuable asset in my opinion to most offensive/bulky offensive teams.) to A: this mon's a premier pivot, and sd is actually a really interesting tool with tera. cind does so much damage and actually has the speed to back it up (tying with moon is really good). but what I feel pushes cinderace into the A ranks is court change. this move is so much more useful than it was in ss because of how hazard heavy the metagame is. having cinderace transform into a normal type is also not bad, as it kinda forces the great ghost types (dragapult and gholdengo) not to use their normally super easily spammable ghost moves. fire spin sets are also really fun to use into more balancey teams, and although that's a lot more niche I thought I'd mention it as it's a set that was used in the past to some degree of success.now onto some drops:
from A+ to A: the ostrich demon struggles to find great opportunities to set-up and as eeveeto pointed it out well, relies a lot on tera/screens/shed tail to perform decently. it has low damage output, isn't that bulky, but I still think this mon's still able to get out of hand really quickly, which I why I think the A- drop suggested by Eeveeto is a bit too harsh. it still requires a bit of guessing games to deal with, and getting one turn wrong can make this thing go nuts extremely quickly. however, I don't think it's anything close to the other A+ ranks (probably baring kingambit) and therefore should drop imo. from A- to B+/B: this mon is sooo inconsistent. it struggles to find openings, its dual stab isn't that great offensively and dnite/dragapult being everywhere clearly doesn't help it. its speedtier while pretty good is kind of annoying, as it doesn't outspeed that much for how "small-ish" damage it does and for how physically frail it is. it's also really hard to fit on teams, as it requires a lot of supports and pivots to make it work, and it's usually not worth wasting a spot when there are better fire types out there (chi-yu/cinderace/regular volc). I would advocate for a drop to B rank, but I could see people would want to keep it a bit high as B+, cuz a pivot with tspikes that does a lot of damage is always cool to have into the bulkier trends of the metagame. from B+ to B/B-: I would honestly consider just swapping this guy with pex cuz its not really useful into the current trends. the tier being filled with super strong dark and ghost types usually forces slowking to tera to remain a useful piece of a team, which is something you want to avoid as much as you can while building as the mindgames offered by tera are quite unique and a big big part of how the current metagame plays. future sight/pivot isn't nearly as good as it was in ss, and slowking's niche suffers a lot from that. add that to the fact that it simply doesn't have a lot to keep in check as most special attackers just outright beat it and force it out and you just have a mon that becomes really niche at best.other noms I agree with, but I don't have time to elaborate on them (will probably make another post when I have more time)
keep in C to A- to S- to A to UR
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agreed with all of these noms but corviknight i think should stay where it is. it's super good but when chi-yu and gholdengo are dominating the tier then i can't see it being in A+. i no longer believe it should drop due to how valuable its defensive utility it is and how versatile it can be but i don't agree with it rising when it struggles so much against the tier's two biggest threatsI've been laddering a lot in the past few weeks so I'm here to give my 2 cents on the metagame as a whole.
Rises:
now onto some drops:
other noms I agree with, but I don't have time to elaborate on them (will probably make another post when I have more time)
I don't really understand why Annihilape is so difficult to deal with. Maybe it's the way I build my teams and the fact that I have bulk up Tusk which sets up alongside Annihilape and smashes it so I could be biased, but I've never really struggled playing against it. I think Annihilape is really easy to just kinda wear down and chip throughout the game until it eventually dies. He struggles a lot with hazard, there are plenty of mons faster that can hit him on the special side regardless of tera especially once he's chipped (Scarf Chi-Yu, scarf Gholden, Dragapult etc) so to me he seems like he definitely has enough counterplay that he is absolutely not banworthy as some people say and I don't even agree with rising him to S-. He's a clear A+ pokemon to me
Some noms I want to echo that have been popping up besides the one’s I talked about already.
S- > S: I don’t think anyone is gonna question this. Not running Tusks is an opportunity cost for the reason of having Spin and everything it provides on a team. Its your hazard control, hazard setter, Knock spammer, midground for physical threats, etc. Band cleanly 2HKOs nearly everything, including its usual checks such as Corv and opposing Tusks. BU is a great wincon that exploits Tusk dittos for a potential sweep while still letting it do its job as a spinner.
A+ > S-: Lets see. The best speed control, the fastest unboosted mon second only to Pult who fears its priority. One of the best breakers with CB + Tera Dark. 162 base Atk because of Swords of Ruin. One of the best anti-HO mons with the aforementioned traits. This thing is cracked, we all know that.
A+ > A: Its good but has to compete for slots on teams with other mons. Dnite usually takes its slot as a DD sweeper. As a physical dark type breaker it competes with Pao who is utterly insane. Its still good. Goes crazy under sun with Band or DD, Tera Flying, Steel, or Fairy is a great wincon, and its the best Chi-Yu check in the tier. I just think its overrated by its placement in the VR.
A > A+: Its inconsistent at getting up Defog but everything else about it is great. The best ground immune in the tier, slow U-Turn, can slot in Taunt to shutdown bulkier teams and opposing Corv. Fast Taunt + Bulk Up also can catch teams off guard. Its a soft check to Dnite, Moon, Tusks, Pao, Meow, (Gambit with Body Press), etc. It has made its name as the best Pivot in the tier.
A- > A: Another great pivot. While it doesn’t counter a whole lot, it is a good midground for several offensive threats and ability to scout with Protect while being annoying asf to switch into. Due to the sheer amount of strong but frail powerhouses, its ability to bring them in is highly appreciated. Also please try NP Wash, it goes hard vs Balance teams.
A- > A: I support this. The speed tier is perfect for getting the jump on Volc, Chi-Yu, Ghold, and Tusks. Can lure hazard removers with Chain Chomp sets or just by making them hesitant to Spin cause of Rough Skin. Its also a better Cinder check due to not having a weakness to U-Turn. With Tera + SD it can rip open defensive cores expecting the usual Tankchomp approach.
B+ > A-: Not gonna metal coat this
B > B+: Faces competition with Mega Weavile but its underrated asf. Once you start running Band, you’ll understand. Hits like a truck with strong ass STAB U-Turns. Also helps that it gets Sucker for faster threats. Very juicy speed tier for outrunning Valiant, Ace, and Lizar. I’ve also seen Boots with Spikes pop up and it gets the job done, being able to threaten Tusk with Flower Trick and spam Knock. Its switch ins Amoonguss and Corv are very exploitable by its teammates such as Chi-Yu.
C > Higher: After fighting a bunch of Ceruledges on ladder and using it myself, I found that its placement was a big mistake. This thing looks like Low Ladder bait from everything we’ve seen previously, not this time. BU Tera Fairy is a scary wincon when left unchecked. Flash Fire means braindead Chi-Yu can’t spam Overheat, now Chi-Yu users have to think. It also helps that its defensive typing before and after Tera gets the jump on Hatt, Moth, Ace, Valiant, Loom, Scizor and Volc, making it surprisingly splashable and actually get those opportunities to set up. Keep in mind this mfer has decent 75/100 special bulk so it can actual eat some hits. B tier is definitely fitting but you can argue B+ even.
> A/A+: Shits on HO teams cause of Court Change. U-Turn to pivot on its checks such as Tusks, Dozo, Dirge, and Garg to bring in its teammates that exploit them. Also keeps important threats such as Adamant Pao, Valiant, Ghold, and non-Tera Hatt in check. It excels at chipping down the opposing team, replying with “ratio” vs spike stacking, and being itself. Between A and A+, I think A+ is more fitting with how it has changed the meta since it dropped.
Now lets get to noms of my own.
C > C+: It deserves a bit more credit in this meta. What sets it appart from Dirge and Tauros is it combines their traits besides Unaware or their secondary typings with its 95 speed tier. It has a better mus against Tusks with its speed, Intimidate, and access to Morning Sun. Its also a better answer to Pao with the option to Tera Fairy.
C > D: I’m trying to find a reason to use this thing over Clodsire but I couldn’t. Imagine getting power crept by your older brother’s cousin. Clod has spikes, better special bulk, and Toxic. Other than better physical bulk and a fire resist, I don’t know what tf this thing does over it. Its sad to say cause it has always been the goat for 4 generations in a row. I might be wrong and Gastro has something worth using over Clod, but I don’t see it.
Now lets get to noms of my own.
Something to bear in mind is tera, mag could be scarf tera fire to OHKO scizor while out speeding it or tera flying to resist CC. Obviously it dies on switch in if Scizor CC's but he can always tera resist or be scarfzone
Not sure this is good enough to warrant a C (probably not), but I've had a lot of fun using Indeedee-F in my OU cores as a Dual Screens setter! I've briefly talked about her in the Maushold thread as a partner for the mice but I feel like it's a Pokémon that can catch quite a few leads off-guard.
You're probably usually better running off Grimmsnarl for your dual screens, but Dee-F is unique in that she can somehow be both a lead and anti-lead at once by virtue of Psychic Surge. She can set up screens against Grimmsnarl who'd usually anti-lead with Taunt, but since Prankster gives it priority, PTerrain blocks it. She can also usually OHKO Glimmora with a terrain-boosted Psychic and Ting-Lu meanwhile can't do much against her since it has no real good physical dark moves.
You're probably usually better running off Grimmsnarl for your dual screens, but Dee-F is unique in that she can somehow be both a lead and anti-lead at once by virtue of Psychic Surge. She can set up screens against Grimmsnarl who'd usually anti-lead with Taunt, but since Prankster gives it priority, PTerrain blocks it. She can also usually OHKO Glimmora with a terrain-boosted Psychic and Ting-Lu meanwhile can't do much against her since it has no real good physical dark moves.
He's not much of an issue for offensive teams, as you've learned. 110/80/90 is good bulk, but his lack of resistances means he needs to invest in bulk to sponge attacks and power up Rage Fist, which leaves him very slow for an offensive mon. The power creep leaves most of the strong attackers able to 2HKO, and while terastalization helps, that's even more commitment into something lacking immediate power. Annihilape is still good versus offense - I'm not some crazy truther here - but nothing oppressive.
Defensive teams can't 2HKO, Bulk Up/Drain Punch/Rage Fist leaves a free move slot for either Taunt or Rest, and while 90 speed is slower than most offensive checks, it's faster than most defensive checks. Annihilape sharply constrains defensive team building, because if you don't have a good answer, he will 6-0 you.
Yea that's fair, I never run hyper offense but I guess I don't really run balance either anymore I pretty much only run bulky offense which probably does do better against Annihlape. Stuff like bulk up Tusk can easily be slotted onto balance though but I guess it is fair that most balance teams don't really have an answer to him at all
Gonna need some replays chief
Just want to point out that Magnezone is still really effective vs Corviknight in spite of U-Turn, especially on hazard stacking teams. Like, Corviknight literally can't do anything but U-Turn against Magnezone teams for risk of being trapped, which means that if you get it in a position where it needs to remove hazards, or recover health back, which isn't hard, you can just send Magnezone in on it and punish it. It's a win/win since if it U-Turns it's accomplished nothing but getting some chip on Magnezone and pivoted into something your team should presumably by able to handle (even better if you've piled up hazards, chipping whatever comes in unless it has boots), and if it does anything else it's just dead. Definitely a good Pokemon, C+ might even be underrating it a bit, ruining Corviknight alone helps a lot of Pokemon.
Hydreigon
C to B+
I know this is a massive jump, but hydreigon is actually really powerful in SV OU, at the time of writing this post. It can switch into Chi-Yu and unleash devastating offense. The best set is specs. Specs focus blast 2HKOs ting-lu, specs Draco 2HKOs clod, and the vast majority of the meta game is destroyed by specs Tera dark dark pulse.
C to B+
I know this is a massive jump, but hydreigon is actually really powerful in SV OU, at the time of writing this post. It can switch into Chi-Yu and unleash devastating offense. The best set is specs. Specs focus blast 2HKOs ting-lu, specs Draco 2HKOs clod, and the vast majority of the meta game is destroyed by specs Tera dark dark pulse.
when will rillaboom be released so i can it with uturn to bring out grassy seed espathra
Whenever they announce Home's release is when we get the Pokemon found in the code, but no official date on that massive update.
I honestly haven't seen much of it myself because as you mention just about every steel type can either level the matchup or completely dominates Zone. I think Tera helps it out on these matchups massively though (turning some of them totally upsidedown) and I think it's worth considering that it isn't total dead weight even if there's nothing for it to trap. It's useful against Hatterene which of course has seen a moments rise recently. I think C is fitting because of things like Hat rising that it fairs well against even though I personally feel Corv is a bit more mid than its current ranking suggests.
roaring moon exists and clogs all the spotlight I guess