Resource SV RU Viability Rankings

[Sneakyplanner]

Mismagius: A- to A

I believe that Mismagius has gotten a lot better with recent tier shifts. The bulls leaving mean that it is now one of the only pokemon that can outspeed the 80-95 range while not being a complete frail speedster like salazzle and kilowattrel. Additionally, now that flamigo is banned, Mismagius gains a fighting resistance. Nasty plot/taunt sets are possibly the best pokemon in the tier against fat teams while still being very good against offense. Its predators are banned and its competition is gone. I also believe that utility missy sets with will o wisp are severely underrated. There are lots of good ru teams that just lack a painless burn absorber


Passimian: B+ to A/A-

Passimian is very good and gets better with flamigo gone. Being the only fighting type with knock off makes it almost mandatory on spikes offense teams in my opinion while still being splashable on many other teams. Knock off is an important move to have in this meta and Passimian is the easiest way to fit it on a team.

And I also have some opinions that are basically just cleaning up the vr. These aren't really hot takes or things I want to elaborate on, they're just lowering pokemon that are outdated and raising a few that either got better or were recently discovered.

A- to A
B to B+ Flamigo is gone so these fighting types get better.
B+ to A/A- tanky steel type is good.
B+ to A very fast
B+ to A I despise this thing
B+ to A/A-

B to B-
B to C+
B+ to C+
B- to C
B+ to B-/C+

 

[pokeclysm]

Flamigo is still on the VR despite being banned, shouldn't that be corrected?

 

[Blitz]

Patience is a virtue (done)

 

[Ampha]

idk how much the tier will change w shifts but posting this regardless


A-> A+
we all know how obscene Pom is being on rupl and as a decently powerful mon overall w QD and everything, its for sure better than sensu and i'd say its up for a rise here along w the next mons im gonna mention


A -> A+
Our best scarfer by far, v annoying to switch in on long term, principally w some more unexplored techs being used now, such as knock, which can cripple any steels trying to wall it long term and can also help vs cryo and such


A -> A+
one of the mons who mostly benefit from the flamigo departure, can spam stabs way more efficiently and use more of its possibilities overall, like bu, cb, and such


A+ -> A
don't get me wrong, killos still very solid but the fact that after the ongoing bans, it got tougher and tougher for killo itself, its strong but also very frail and its power can still leave to be desired
bonus detail: its the only mon on top 15 on rupl with a win percentage lower than 40%
| 11 | Kilowattrel | 19 | 19.79% | 36.84% |


B+ -> A-
very consistent overall and i do think it belongs in a higher rank than w the crowd gang


B -> b-
stakeout shenanigans are cool but w/o that it hits way to soft to be ranked in B


B- -> B
talking about B-, I think those two have some unexplored potential as we have seen a bit on RUPL, florges can be v nasty w CM on mid to late game and zard is insanely good vs non rock move muds and actually being a fire type that can force slowbro out is insane


B- -> C+

baile corio is just outclassed by its siblings on current meta and idt it deserves the rank it has rn, as for vespi, it def has a niche but it imo fits w the "nicher" gang than w some more ok options in B-

I think apart from that the VR seems fair, maybe removing mareanie but it doesnt hurt anyone being there either

 

[Stories]

New VR update! The sheet can be found here. We've implemented a new rule regarding unranking, where a 7/11 super-majority of UR ranks will always result in a UR, even if a certain someone ranks Farigiraf to A-... Thanks to Yourwelcomethanku for their edits and suggestions with this writeup.

Rises and Drops

Rises:

Brute Bonnet New! => A
Indeedee-M New! => B
Gardevoir A => A+
Klefki A => A+
Krookodile A => A+
Oricorio-Pom-Pom A => S-
Heracross A- => A
Altaria B+ => A-
Cetitan B+ => A-
Copperajah B+ => A
Passimian B+ => A-
Sylveon B+ => A-
Weavile B+ => A+
Toxicroak B => B+
Qwilfish C => C+
Scyther C => C+
Magneton UR => C

Drops:

Mudsdale A+ => A
Bellibolt A- => B+
Palossand A- => B+
Primeape A- => B+
Barraskewda B+ => B
Bombirdier B+ => B
Floatzel B+ => B-
Froslass B+ => C+
Naclstack B+ => B
Sableye B+ => B
Umbreon B+ => B
Avalugg B => C+
Ditto B => B-
Golduck B => B-
Mabosstiff B => C+
Sandaconda B => C+
Vaporeon B => B-
Arcanine B- => C+
Charizard B- => C
Drifblim B- => C
Dudunsparce B- => C
Honchkrow B- => C
Oricorio-F B- => C
Vespiquen B- => C+
Beartic C+ => C
Clawitzer C+ => C
Crocalor C+ => C
Lurantis C+ => C
Scovillain C+ => C
Veluza C+ => C

C+ => UR

C+ => UR

Rises and Drops with Reasoning

Rises:

Brute Bonnet New! => A Brute Bonnet has made a big impact on the metagame with it's introduction to the tier, making Pokemon like Klefki use Safety Goggles and Revavroom use Overcoat, as well as increasing Altaria and Oricorio-Pom-Pom's usage. Spore is incredibly powerful and Brute Bonnet also boasts lots of set variety including Loaded Dice, Booster Energy, and Choice Band with lots of different options in Tera type like Fire and Poison for their defensive utility and Dark for a super-powered Sucker Punch.
Indeedee-M New! => B Indeedee, while not as impactful to the tier upon introduction, is still a very speedy and powerful special breaker with amazing coverage in Dazzling Gleam, Psyshock, and a Tera Blast that functions as STAB even without Terastallizing as well as great utility options like Screens, Trick, and Healing Wish. Psychic Terrain benefits other Pokemon like Bruxish and Unburden Drifblim.
Gardevoir A => A+ Gardevoir is a phenomenal revenge killing option and breaker thanks to its super powerful Moonblast and great coverage coupled with Trace to keep weather sweepers in check and pivot into top tier threats like Slowbro and Kilowattrel. Choice Specs feels similar to Toxtricity in the sense that assuming it uses the right move, it will pick up a KO every time it comes in. This high praise can be reflected through its usage and winrate seen in RUPL so far (number 5 in usage as of week 3).
Klefki A => A+ Klefki boasts one of the best typings and ability in the game, with a phenomenal movepool to back it up. Its Steel typing allows it to check many Pokemon including the 3 mentioned above it here, and its natural bulk lets it get away with using many different items including Safety Goggles, Shuca Berry, and Toxic Orb + Switcheroo. Toxic Orb and Thunder Wave are great contingencies for setup sweepers and the highly coveted Spikes and a positive matchup into many hazard removers like Altaria and Cryogonal makes Klefki an amazing user of both of these moves. Klefki can also use a Calm Mind + Iron Defense set with Stored Power and Draining Kiss to unexpectedly destroy bulky teams.
Krookodile A => A+ Similarly to Gardevoir, Krookodile's RUPL performance has been nothing short of dominating (top 3 in usage as of week 3). Choice Scarf Moxie sets can snowball incredibly quickly due to the lack of common Ground immunities and Krookodile's amazing speed tier. Choice Band sets break very well due to Krookodile's amazing STAB combination and great coverage in Gunk Shot, Close Combat, Stone Edge, and Aqua Tail. Krookodile also has Intimidate and solid bulk to be a great Stealth Rock setter and can even Taunt common Defog users like Altaria and Oricorio-Pom-Pom.
Oricorio-Pom-Pom A => S- Oricorio-Pom-Pom has taken the tier by storm recently, with lots of set development to its sets allowing it to effectively beat any of its supposed checks in a 1-on-1. Defog sets make use of its fantastic defensive typing, but Quiver Dance makes Pom-Pom considered "broken" by the community because even without Tera, its amazing set diversity enables it to set up very reliably and threaten most of the tier with powerful Hurricanes and stay healthy with Roost.
Heracross A- => A In a metagame dominated by Slowbro and other physical walls like Mudsdale and Altaria, Heracross sets itself apart from other Fighting-types like Passimian and the late Flamigo as a breaker that can very easily break through these with its raw power and coverage. Heracross can also benefit from an ally breaking, and become a sweeper with a Choice Scarf or Trailblaze, and even set itself up for success by laying down Spikes prior. Heracross often has to pick-and-choose its coverage and thus what it loses to, often dropping a move for either Flying- or Ghost-types but even without a super-effective Stone Edge or Night Slash, a potentially Tera and Guts-boosted Facade easily destroys Flying-types like Kilowattrel and Altaria, and a Tera Trailblaze destroys Mismagius and Palossand, while Mega Horn nukes Sableye, which can't do much back to Heracross regardless.
Altaria B+ => A- Altaria has cemented itself as arguably the best Defogger in the tier, and at least takes the title as the most consistent one, due to its positive matchup against common Stealth Rock setters such as Mudsdale and Copperajah. Despite its passive facade, Will-O-Wisp in a generation without Heal Bell, and high BP moves like Brave Bird and Hurricane or its trapping set with Fire Spin and Perish Song make Altaria quite a pain for offensively-oriented teams to deal with, while defensive teams struggle to even threaten Altaria in the first place. Natural Cure and reliable recovery are the cherry on top for Altaria's phenomenal defensive profile, making it the queen of the war of attrition.
Cetitan B+ => A- Now *I've* been saying Cetitan is nutty since Alpha, and it seems everyone else has finally caught up to this idea. If Cetitan gets a Belly Drum off, it wins. Typically Belly Drum Pokemon struggle to pull off the move without dying, but much like Hariyama who resides in RUBL, Cetitan has absurd bulk which is only further bolstered by Snow's defense boost and a potential Aurora Veil. With both Tauros-Paldea forms and Alomomola rising out of the tier, Cetitan finds itself in an amazing position to consistently pull off sweeps if supported properly.
Copperajah B+ => A Copperajah is a perfect mixture of offense and defensive utility, boasting naturally high BP moves like Heavy Slam, Earthquake, and Stone Edge with a high base attack, backed by an amazing HP stat and access to Stealth Rock and Whirlwind to keep Pokemon like Oricorio-Pom-Pom and Revavroom in check. Copperajah sits at #8 in usage in RUPL as of week 3.
Passimian B+ => A- Passimian definitely appreciates Flamigo being banned, but beyond direct competition, Passimian also boasts better natural coverage with moves like Gunk Shot for Sylveon and Tera Fairy Slowbro, Earthquake for Poison-types, and Knock Off to hit Ghost-types (not that Flamigo had an issue with that) but Knock Off also greatly hampers the ability of Flying-types like Altaria and Oricorio-Pom-Pom from consistently checking Passimian when Stealth Rocks are up.
Sylveon B+ => A- Sylveon's amazing special bulk and Calm Mind let it check special boosters like Oricorio and Frosmoth in a vacuum, and offensive sets that make use of Tera Blast for constant STAB are incredibly difficult to manage. Wish keeps very common teammates like Copperajah and Mudsdale healthy throughout games and can sweep very easily with offensive Calm Mind sets or blow through teams with a Choice Specs.
Weavile B+ => A+ Similarly to Cetitan, Weavile lost some of its most consistent checks at the beginning of the month in both Tauros-Paldea forms and Alomomola. Weavile's amazing speed tier and sheer power with either a Choice Band or after a Swords Dance, especially with Tera make it feel nearly impossible to manage late game, especially if you don't have your own Tera to use against it. Tera Ground has seen use to OHKO Klefki and Copperajah after a Swords Dance while blocking Volt Switch from the likes of Bellibolt, Kilowattrel, and Choice Scarf Rotom-C, but Tera Ice Shard puts out insane damage output, KOing Choice Scarf users like Gardevoir, Mismagius, and Krookodile once boosted. Despite Weavile's poor bulk, the RU metagame often gives it many opportunities to set up a Swords Dance, being able to tank one hit from common Pokemon like non-Body Press Slowbro and Mudsdale, Oricorio-Pom-Pom, Sableye, Blissey, and Palossand. Weavile also sits comfortably at number 10 in usage in RUPL as of week 3.
Toxicroak B => B+ Toxicroak finds many OHKO thresholds after a Swords Dance, and many opportunities to pull of a Swords Dance thanks to its unique defensive profile, notably a Water immunity and the Poison typing. Toxicroak often makes use of a Tera Sucker Punch to clean up late-game after breaking with its raw high BP moves and potentially poisoning checks like Mudsdale, Palossand, and Slowbro. Tera Dark is immune to both of Slowbro's STAB moves and sets up on Sableye as well. Toxicroak lost both competition and one of, if not, its most prominent revenge killer in Flamigo
Qwilfish C => C+ Qwilfish can make use of two amazing abilities with a great defensive typing and access to highly coveted moves like Spikes and Toxic. Intimidate allows Qwilfish to check physical attackers like Weavile and Copperajah and set up Spikes or damage them. Poison Point can punish the infamously unpunishable U-turn and also avoids activating Passimian's Defiant.
Scyther C => C+ Scyther forces a lot of switches and can capitalize by either using Defog or Swords Dance to sweep. Tera Trailblaze can snowball quite easily, hitting Pokemon like Mudsdale, Slowbro, and Palossand super hard after Technician and using other high BP moves like Technician Aerial Ace and Close Combat.
Magneton UR => C Magneton proves to be quite difficult to switch into, if you're able to switch at all. It has a great defensive typing that can be complemented with an Eviolite, and both Analytic and Magnet Pull can force lasting damage on special walls like Revavroom, Copperajah, and Blissey safely with Volt Switch. Tera can allow Magneton the coverage needed to completely remove some Steel-types like Revavroom, which can be the deciding factor for some setup sweepers like Venomoth or Sylveon.

Drops:

Mudsdale A+ => A Mudsdale often has to choose what it's able to hit, often being blanked by Flying-types even if it does have Stone Edge, and struggling against tier staples like Slowbro and Rotom-Mow while lacking the recovery to consistently check physical monsters like Heracross and Krookodile, even facing direct competition from Krookodile as a Ground-type. Specially defensive sets have become more common to help combat Pokemon Oricorio-Pom-Pom and Gardevoir, but ultimately Mudsdale finds itself being quite overwhelmed to be worth A+.
Bellibolt A- => B+ People just learned how to deal with Electromorphosis. Despite Acid Spray and Muddy Water and Volt Switch, Bellibolt finds itself being a liability against many teams, especially setup sweepers, and its reliance on Leftovers to facetank like its meant to do makes it extremely vulnerable to entry hazards and the common setters like Mudsdale and Copperajah.
Palossand A- => B+ Palossand really struggles to keep Stealth Rocks up, and its passivity really shines through after that. Palossand is vulnerable to many common attacking types in the tier, and its bulk is good enough to avoid many 2HKO's but it has to Shore Up and lose all momentum afterwards.
Primeape A- => B+ Even with an Eviolite, Primeape's bulk is still average at best, making accruing Rage Fist boosts while staying healthy enough to capitalize on the boosts extremely difficult and situational. Rage Fist can still dunk on bulky teams in the right matchup but on average Primeape takes too much effort for the potential payoff.
Barraskewda B+ => B Manual rain is very weak in a meta with Slowbro, Altaria, and other common Water resists along with Snow being both better and directly beating Rain teams in a 1-on-1.
Bombirdier B+ => B People have realized Bombirdier's tools are not worth its poor stats.
Floatzel B+ => B- See Barraskewda.
Froslass B+ => C+ Spikes alone are not valuable enough to warrant an entire teamslot to set them up
Naclstack B+ => B
Sableye B+ => B
Umbreon B+ => B
Avalugg B => C+
Ditto B => B- Most setup sweepers like Oricorio and Revavroom can beat a copied version of themself.
Golduck B => B- See Barraskewda.
Mabosstiff B => C+
Sandaconda B => C+
Vaporeon B => B-
Arcanine B- => C+
Charizard B- => C
Drifblim B- => C
Dudunsparce B- => C
Honchkrow B- => C
Oricorio-F B- => C
Vespiquen B- => C+
Beartic C+ => C
Clawitzer C+ => C
Crocalor C+ => C
Lurantis C+ => C
Scovillain C+ => C
Veluza C+ => C

C+ => UR

C => UR
Not much else to say about a lot of these lower rank Pokemon, they were just overrated in the first place

 

[Perla]

Primeape A- => B+ Even with an Eviolite, Primeape's bulk is still average at best, making accruing Rage Fist boosts while staying healthy enough to capitalize on the boosts extremely difficult and situational. Rage Fist can still dunk on bulky teams in the right matchup but on average Primeape takes too much effort for the potential payoff.

I admit that I haven't played RU for a while, so I might not be well aware of the meta situation, but I just have a question.
Here it mentions that Primeape dropped the ball because its Rage Fist set is not so consistent anymore, but, after the Flamigo ban, can't the monkey work as a Scarfer or is there something that holds it back?
It might not be as powerful as the other monkey ( Passimian, who saw an increase in its ranking) but it would outspeed scarfed Gardevoir, Rotom-Mow, Revavroom...

 

[rien]

I admit that I haven't played RU for a while, so I might not be well aware of the meta situation, but I just have a question.
Here it mentions that Primeape dropped the ball because its Rage Fist set is not so consistent anymore, but, after the Flamigo ban, can't the monkey work as a Scarfer or is there something that holds it back?
It might not be as powerful as the other monkey ( Passimian, who saw an increase in its ranking) but it would outspeed scarfed Gardevoir, Rotom-Mow, Revavroom...

I'm not the most experienced in ru myself but i've been using scarf ape and it really stands out as a scarf user; it's an extremely safe lead option, it pivots for days with u-turn, and it has coverage for literally everything u need it to cover on your team. Its speed especially is just huge when you realize it outspeeds every other common scarfer (garde, krook, mowtom, revavroom etc). While it is slightly weaker than pass and doesn't get knock off, its speed alone makes it extremely usable. Ranking it below A- feels criminal to me, i can't vouch for eviolite sets since i haven't used them but scarf is at the very least on par with pass

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

Howdy. We should be starting a new VR update in about a week's time. If you have nominations, post them soon

 

[Ampha]

Howdy. We should be starting a new VR update in about a week's time. If you have nominations, post them soon

So be it,

-> Up

As I said on previous post, Zard is very underrated rn, with slowbro gone its physical sets are also way more consistent as well and its just a mon that deserves more appreciation than it receives

-> Up to B-/ B

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone who has laddered this past week to say that Arcanine is way better with the lack of Slowbro, Wow is more difficult to pivot in, and its a decent defensive/offensive piece rn

A/A+

I believe both share a caracteristic that makes them rly good rn, Thorn's DD Sets (PIN MISSILE IS AWFUL DONT USE THAT) and even hazarding sets make it a very good pokemon (considered broken by some), meanwhile Aiaiaiaiaiai is very annoying to play around because of Prankster toxic sets and just poison touch leaving 90% of tier poisoned while u-turning(Ps: Unburden is bad and unreliable here) and both ranks fit them pretty well

-> A

Being honest, this mon has been gaining more and more traction due to it being a great deffoger along w the fact that it can punish thing very easily with Wow, personal opinion is also its way more reliable on current meta than part of A-

-> B-

If being honest, I thought this thing was gonna be the new wave after flamigo got banned, but its just way too underwhelming in most cases

-> B

Talking about underwhelming, Palo has yet to be in the glory moments that it was before the Toxtricity ban, its a bit passive and it has no way to actually compensate for that passivity, its also way more underwhelming than the mons ranked in B+ too

-> B+

Barraskewda has been gaining traction as some teams are unprepared to face it overall and it takes advantage of the slowbro departure from the tier overall

-> B/B+
Just keeping old nom as well, Underrated mon that shouldve rised before

 

[Stories]

-> A

Being honest, this mon has been gaining more and more traction due to it being a great deffoger along w the fact that it can punish thing very easily with Wow, personal opinion is also its way more reliable on current meta than part of A-

​

Altaria has been A rank-worthy for a while now in my opinion-

• Altaria has a positive matchup against almost all Stealth Rock setters ( ), making it extremely reliable in a generation that notoriously lacks diverse hazard control.
• Altaria can easily spread Will-O-Wisp thanks to its natural bulk and typing that allows it to come in on many threats. Status in general is much more powerful this generation due to the lack of clerics. Will-O-Wisp compensates for its relative "passivity" (which I will touch on more later), preventing setup sweepers that shrug off Brave Bird, like Revavroom, Iron Thorns, and Cloyster, from taking advantage of Altaria.
• Touching on how potent status infliction is, Altaria makes for an amazing status absorber itself thanks to Natural Cure, which in combination with Roost, makes it near impossible to take out Altaria with just chip / indirect damage, making it very unique from many other walls in the tier.
• Although its attacking stats are low, Altaria has access to very high BP STAB moves, notably Brave Bird, which deters offensive checks like Weavile and Gardevoir from switching in for fear of an easy 2HKO. Fire Spin + Perish Song can surprise and completely remove more passive responses like Blissey or Naclstack. This prevents Altaria from being nearly as exploitable as it may seem.
• Tera Steel with Flying / Dragon covers an incredibly wide array of resistances, letting Altaria check an absurd array of threats in a pinch.

Some other Pokemon I'd like to nominate:

Vaporeon from B- to B+
Vaporeon was admittedly largely outclassed by Slowbro, but honestly 90% of defensive Pokemon in the tier were. Bulky Water-types are surprisingly scarce in SV, but Vaporeon fits the description and has a great matchup against many top tiers like Mudsdale, Krookodile, and Cloyster. Vaporeon is not only a great defensive presence, capable of passing large pools of HP to common teammates like Copperajah, but it is also quite awkward to pivot around for offensive threats. Vaporeon packs quite a surprising punch with its base 110 base Special Attack, and Ice Beam easily 2HKO's common Water resists like Rotom-C, Altaria, and offensive Arboliva.
This team has already been submitted as a sample, but it showcases Vaporeon quite well, along with Altaria and another Pokemon I'm going to nominate.

Lycanroc from C+ to B
Lycanroc's current ranking is only indicative of its dedicated lead set, but I think the Pokemon deserves a lot more exploration. Lycanroc's offensive prowess fares amazingly into a majority of the tier, especially with a priority Rock-type move. Tera Close Combat and Rock STAB are incredibly powerful and after a Swords Dance, even physical walls like Mudsdale and Bronzong struggle to tank hits. Other common Rock resists like Copperajah, Krookodile, and Revavroom fold to a +2 Tera Close Combat. +2 Accelerock can OHKO Choice Scarf Gardevoir after Stealth Rock damage, while also picking off Weavile and Oricorio Pom-Pom, making it a great cleaner as well as a breaker.

wall of calcs

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tera Fighting Lycanroc Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Revavroom: 507-598 (139.2 - 164.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lycanroc Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mudsdale: 225-265 (55.6 - 65.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lycanroc Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Gardevoir: 222-263 (80.1 - 94.9%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lycanroc Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Cloyster: 187-221 (77.5 - 91.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lycanroc Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Weavile: 445-525 (158.3 - 186.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Lycanroc Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sylveon: 367-433 (93.1 - 109.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Mudsdale from A to A+
Only one subrank but a huge statement, Mudsdale's specially defensive sets have restored my faith in it. There's so many physical attackers in the tier kept in check by Mudsdale, especially with Tera, such as Cloyster, Iron Thorns, and Grafaiai. Many physical attackers are more common because Slowbro rose to UU, and Slowbro rising itself also directly benefits Mudsdale as well.

 

[C0nfiden1 0yster]

hi going to do some vr noms mmmm

A+ -> S
I think once oricorio leaves, krook will become the best pokemon in the tier. It has he prefect amount of bulk, speed, and breaking power I believe and I see little that can deal with its bulk-up sets. Additionally, Scarf, Band, and Rocks are all valid, showing how versatile this pokemon is. It's problematic mus are mudsdale and brute bonnet, which are A currently, but often enough tera and/or the combination of dominant hazard spam will allow krook to beat them over the course of the game.

A -> A+
On the same note, Bonnet is similarly versatile as it boasts impressive coverage like Zen headbutt and stomping tantrum to stop pokemon like Toxicroak and Klefki respectively. With Spore, it always plays an important role in its games as the value of sleep is exaggerated in the broken metagame that is sv ru, giving free turns to set-up or allowing breakers to switch in. Brute Bonnet also has an impressive defensive profile, switching into mowtom's stabs, krook's stabs, and just having good bulk to allow it to take hits. It can reply with its 127 base atk and strong stabs. I think the value of spore, coupled with its impressive stats and coverage allow bonnet to be a central part of any game it battles in, making it A+.

Stay A-
I don't see Altaria as a very good pokemon itself, which prevents me from putting it any higher. The value of Wisp does add a lot to the pokemon, I don't think its enough to take this pokemon to the next level. While I do think wisp helps with the passivity issue, it still doesn't solve it as I see altaria on more offensive teams, which I think overall hurts those teams. With balance being in a bad spot IMO, it leaves altaria to be much less splashable than it seems. I still think Altaria is too exploitable.Togkey mentioned that Wisp+BB and perish trap have completely different answers which makes altaria less exploitable, but it isn't very difficult to determine which set it will be, even off preview.

A- -> B+
A lot of the recent changes make this a much less appetizing pick. Weavile and Krook are extremely dominant and although Mismag can certainly catch them with dazzling gleam and tera fairy, it requires a level of prediction that I don't like in a pokemon that provides such little defensive presence and isn't particularly stong. Steel types like klefki and copper also take advantage of mismag and simply force it out, although mismag can run wisp. I think hex sets are underexplored in general. I think Mismag struggles with the breaker/offense spam, causing it to drop out of the A ranks

A- -> B
I don't think Sylveon has ever been a strong pick in this metagame and I think it struggles to do the kinds of things it wants to do anymore. I think Sylveon faces a similar fate to the one it faced in ss, its just too passive and it invites steels way to easily. The problem this time is the steel-types are actually threatening as something like revavroom can end games on its own. Sylveon can be a solid check to Weavile and Krook, but it also isn't difficult to overrun sylveon throughout the course of a game. I sent it to B because Wishpass itself isn't strong as the metagame isn't slow enough for it to be ideal, and because I find the pokemon itself too passive. Throw Vaporeon into the mix and this pokemon will just be outclassed as builders will prefer better fairy-types.

You may have noticed, but I stress passivity and momentum a lot in this rankings, as I think that is what the meta calls for right now. I see this as a broken, offensive, and frankly, disfunctional metagame and getting caught flat footed will be heavily punished. hope you enjoyed reading

 

[Rarelyme]

Here we go:

from B+ to A
I'm surprised nobody talks about this guy, from my experience on ladder the bell has seen a significant rise in usage and for good reasons: tanks +6 cetitan pretty easily (cause ppl refuse to use tera ghost apparently) as well as our new paradox Iron Thorns. It is a relevant sr setter as it's pretty hard to spin on it for cryo, coal or even tatsu. Its movepool is so versatile making it nearly impossible to know which moves the zong you're facing runs. I've seen stuff from classic gyro ball eq to cm psychic flash cannon or iron defense bpress (heck even stored power sometimes) and in every game I felt like it was always doing something. For me it 100% deserves A tier.

from B- to B+
I very much agree with Togkey on this one so I won't go over it again. I'll maybe add that vap has several good 4th move options beside ice beam like haze, calm mind or even yawn which are all quite useful depending the team.

from B to A-
To me this may be the mon that benefited the most from Slowbro being gone. To deal with CB barra consistently you either have to tera or play Mr Belli because liquidation, CC or ice fang just 2hko's everything else especially with sr on. Very very good mon and major threat in the current meta.

to A+
This guy has become meta defining to me, poison touch forces progress so well and prankster is still the same busted and annoying ability. On top of that it is no less than the 3rd fastest mon of the tier with access to Koff. Grafaiai has been the greatest argument to play stack hazards in this meta and practically cancel Altaria's staying power so even this has a hard time getting the hazards off the field.

I'll quickly list some more below as this is just tweeking the VR slightly:
from B- to B
from A- to B+
from B to B-
from C to C+/B-
from B+ to A-

 

[Ampha]

Shorter one but also

-> B+

Hear me out, Tatsugiri isn't a bad pokémon itself, but the fact it's that it often tries to Spin + NP + Actually break and often can't get that momentum overall. Without heavy duty boots tatsugiri(Eject, Specs and things like that) is on a timer the moment it enters the field, Tatsugiri also being as frail as it is, means it NEEDS to get a lot of support for it to spin or NP and the fact that faster mons always are annoying for it doesnt help matters, as scarf vroom, Scarf krook, scarf rotom mow, and some other +1 cleaners are always annoying for it. I also don't think any of the recent changes on tier are contributing to it being A- good, like florges being able to take even a +2 Hydro, or the various priorities rolling around who can easily put a dent to it, overall I think B+ fits Tatsugiri better on current meta.

 

[ishtar]

Hi, people of the BearlyUsed tier. I come to you all with a lil bit of a thought soup, as I will now call all of my posts from now on. This will take into account potential shifts post Ori as well as acknowledgements of the new amazing drops weve gotten.

B+ to A-: Zoro has been amazingly consistent in RUPL, proving to be a powerful breaker in both its Special and Physical sets, able to get past Steels, cripple Blissey and Fairies with ease as well as simply be an amazing surprise tool able to be almost as equally consistent without bluffing Illusion. Dark types are really good in this meta imo and Zoro is a perfect example of this.

B+ to A-: A recent winner of the meta is Toxicroak, whos been able to prove itself as an amazingly reliable and versatile breaker in our current meta, able to pressure common Fighting checks such as Altaria, Gardevoir as well as benefit from the higher usage of Water-types such as Vaporeon and Barraskewda. Croak has been used to great success with a very different array of tools from Tera Steel BP, Ice Punch, Tera Bug, Drain Punch, etc.

C+ to B+: Fire types no longer have to deal with Slowbro everywhere making Arcanine an actual offensive threat able to muscle past or cripple physical walls such as Mudsdale, Vaporeon while also being a handy defensive check to scary breakers and sweepers such as Weavile and variants of Revavroom.

B- to A-: This mon was criminally underrated on our previous slate for no reason at all. This has no business being rated as a worse defensive Fairy than Sylveon. The higher Speed and meta developments in faster Florges with different Tera types showcased thru RUPL show this mons reliability and versatility. Not much to say here, this mon just never had any business being ranked so low.

A to A+: This mon shoulda simply never dropped to A in the first place but the prevalence of Krook, Rev, Thorns and Grafaiai easily grant it this spot, just as it held it before we decided to lower it for absolutely no reason.

NEW to A+ or S: Grafaiai is simply the most consistent progress maker in the tier thanks to Knock Off, Poison Touch, U-Turn, even Super Fang. Meanwhile, Prankster sets are natural anti-bs measures in a tier with plenty of bs. Youd be hard pressed not to use this mon somewhat regularly despite its lack of a significant breaking or defensive role.

A to A+: Rotom-Mow is back as not only one of the best Scarfers but the best Volt Switch Pokemon in the tier after the loss of Kilowattrel to the evil hands of UU. This mon does exactly what it used to do, just now does it better.

UR to B-: Pretty cool and potentially scary breaker with wincon potential, quite similar to our old friends but with less oomph. Still got a decent amount of oomph.

C to B: Losing Kilo also helps other Electrics, and Rotom is a perfect candidate of a Ghost able to reliably pressure Ghost resists such as Krook, Aiai and Blissey. PLEASE use this if you got the chance. This mon is really fucking good!!!

I agree with most previous noms, but Altaria to A I feel quite strongly about in agreeance with Ampha and Ashy.

Also agree with Skewda to A-, Vap to B+, Krook to S and most of the lowering. Ok, that’s all, see yall in the next suspect test thread. RU hungers for suspect tests apparently. Zoboo out!

 

[BT89]

been playing this tier a lot lately, so i have some opinions yippee

new
-> A+
grafaiai is simply just very good at everything it does. its utility movepool is surprisingly big and irritating, with stuff like toxic, encore, parting shot, etc. being super annoying for so many mons to deal with. i've been solely using prankster, but i've seen tons of poison touch and that is also pretty nightmarish to face (poison touch u-turn is agony incarnate).

-> A
thorns is a pretty silly fun mon. i dont have much to say about it that hasnt already been said - DD is very scary and strong and it has a good movepool.

rises
-> S
krookodile is insanely good rn! insanely splashable, both as a scarfer and as a rocker. its typing and stats are simply excellently put for the meta, seeing as it pretty much lacks good answers right now bar like... mudsdale (who can still be dealt with through BU variants). overall, this mon is completely bonkers rn and definitely deserves S.

-> A+
this pokemon walls just about half the tier currently! in all seriousness, this mon is reliable against so much of the meta (krook, rev, passimian, etc.), and it really is this alone that makes mudsdale so stellar. it LOVES the amount of physical attackers rn and does decent into pretty much all of them.

-> A
i agree with everything else that has been said regarding this, the bird has pretty much everything it could need - one of the few defoggers in the tier, status absorber and spreader, and the ability to actually retaliate against the stuff it checks thanks to brave bird being a silly goofy move.

-> B+
an underrated pokemon for sure. barraskewda is extremely hard to stop once it gets going. water + fighting is such amazing coverage right now, with very few pokemon resisting both (even if altaria is a fairly common sight). offensive waters are just popping off as of late and i think that this is one of the bigger beneficiaries of that

-> B+/B
the loss of slowbro + the rise of many pokemon vaporeon is very good at answering is really great for vaporeon. its pretty versatile - the fourth moveslot is more or less entirely open for something like ice beam, calm mind, haze, etc. that can rlly turn the tables on a lot of would-be switch ins.

-> B+/B
i don't see too much differentiating florges from sylveon right now, but the stuff it does have over sylveon really sells the mon in my eyes. the speed tier is very huge, as you now outspeed stuff that sylveon otherwise can't (vaporeon, arboliva, etc.). steel types existing is very annoying for this mon, but otherwise i think its pretty decent right now.

-> B
arcanine is pretty flames right now (ba dum tss). wisp is as good as ever, and arcanine makes for a surprisingly effective wallbreaker. all you really need is flare blitz + extreme speed for offensive coverage because wisp just neuters everything else.

-> B-
lead lycanroc has been doing decently well from what i have been seeing recently. i don't really have much else to say here except it is a pretty good lead and endeavor can be game-endingly catastrophic sometimes.

-> B-
i have been using a lot of rotom recently, and this mon is actually pretty underrated! will o wisp + trick makes for a hell of a combo, as they make rotom viciously difficult to switch into reliably. having to be choice-locked can be pretty bad sometimes, but shadow ball is such a great general coverage move and synergizes so well with wisp considering most of our ghost resists are physical attackers. overall, this mon is an absolute baller.

 

[ishtar]

Hello, people of the RarelyUsed tier! We finally managed to come up with a new update to the VR. This one does not yet include the new drops or Home mons/older mons with improved movepools. (sorry!). Hopefully we’ll be able to tackle those mons shortly in a timelier fashion with RU ssnl around the corner, so feel free to comment on the viability of the new friends we have!

Reasonings for this one by Togkey, Yourwelcomethanku and myself:

New:
Grafaiai New -> A+
Iron Thorns New -> A

Rises:
Gardevoir A+ -> S-
Krookodile A+ -> S
Mudsdale A -> A+
Passimian A- -> A
Bronzong B+ -> A-
Cloyster B+ -> A
Primeape B+ -> A-
Toxicroak B+ -> A
Zoroark B+ -> A-
Barraskewda B -> A
Appletun B- -> B
Ditto B- -> B
Florges B- -> A-
Vaporeon B- -> B+
Arcanine C+ -> A-
Froslass C+ -> B-
Lycanroc C+ -> B-
Qwilfish C+ -> B
Scyther C+ -> B-
Magneton C -> B-
Oricorio-F C -> B-
Rotom C -> C+
Tauros-Combat UR -> C+
Eelektross UR -> C+

Drops:
Blissey A- -> B+
Frosmoth A- -> B+
Sylveon A- -> B+
Bombirdier B -> B-
Coalossal B -> B-
Goodra B -> B-
Golduck B- -> C+
Jolteon B- -> C+
Mabosstiff C+ -> C
Vespiquen C+ -> C
Beartic C -> UR
Crocalor C -> UR
Honchkrow C -> UR

Rises and new Pokemon:
New to A+ Grafaiai is an amazing pivot in the RU tier, spreading poisons and removing items on otherwise suitable switchins like Mudsdale and Arcanine with Poison Touch U-turn and Knock Off, while having an amazing defensive typing; absorbing Toxic Spikes, being immune to Ghost, and resisting U-turn. Grafaiai also has an amazing speed tier and great set diversity, showing off Prankster Encore sets, 4 attacks pivoting sets, Choice Scarf, Unburden Swords Dance sets, and others.

New to A Iron Thorns is a versatile breaker and sweeper with plenty of versatile options in coverage as well as support options such as Spikes. Its ability to tera on would be counters such as Mudsdale also make it fairly unpredictable by nature in conjunction with Sub and item options such as Energy Booster.

A+ to S Slowbro leaving gives Krookodile some more freedom. Slowbro could pivot into non-CB Crunch and force Krookodile out, or force Bulk Up sets to terrastallize. Without Slowbro Krookodile has even more freedom to pound the opposition.

A to A+ Slowbro leaving removes Mudsdale's most pertinent check and makes its own role as a physically defensive Pokemon more important, since there's now no Slowbro to fill that role.

A+ to S- Gardevoir is incredibly easy to place onto teams because of how much it offers. With Trace, it can check Oricorio, Snow (with a tera type that resists Cetitan's Ice Shard),

B- to A- The notion that Florges is better than Sylveon might be a fairly contested one, but we have now ranked it higher than Sylveon, with Sylveon also dropping to B+. Florges's Synthesis is a pretty substantial advantage over Sylveon's Wish + Protect in a tier where phazing moves that can disrupt the ability to receive Wish like Whirlwind or Roar are quite common.

B+ to A- Bronzong has continued to see good usage in RUPL, and it often runs sweeping sets with Iron Defense and Calm Mind.

B+ to A Cloyster is less Terastallization reliant without Slowbro

B+ to A- Meap is less pressed to Terastallize without Slowbro

B+ to A Slowbro leaving makes Toxicroak less reliant on terrastallization, as it would have to terastaililze in order to counter Calm Mind Slowbro. The ability to take on Water-types with Dry Skin is also a lot more valuable, since Barraskewda became a ton better with Slowbro gone too.

A- to A Slowbro is one less roadblock for Passimian

B+ to A- Zoroark has seen major tournament success in RUPL, functioning as a solid wallbreaker with enough versatility to get past or disrupt checks and counters such as Klefki, Blissey with options such as Trick and Knock Off for Special and Physical sets respectively.

B- to BAppletun is a bulky Pokemon that can sort of fill Slowbro's void. It can take on Pokemon like Barraskewda, Arcanine, and Mudsdale, the former two being Pokemon that became a lot better since Slowbro left and Mudsdale being something that Slowbro checked.

C+ to A- Arcanine became a lot better with Slowbro now gone. Between Flare Blitz and Will-O-Wisp it's difficult to switch into and it has a great speed tier for this tier, outpacing Pokemon like Krookodile, Toxicroak, and Mowtom.

B- to B+ Vaporeon is perhaps the closest replacement to Slowbro. It's still much worse than Slowbro being stuck with Wish and Protect , not having Regenerator, and more that I could say, and it's ranked much more lowly.

C+ to B- Froslass has seen an uptick in usage and is a decent choice for a Spiker on hyper offense teams.

B- to B HO teams have seen an uptick, which is good for Ditto.

C to B- Oricorio-Pom-Pom left, which gives more room for the other Oricorio forms.

C to B- Klefki rising in viability has made Magneton a much more desirable option, as well as generally being a strong Electric-type breaker able to hit Grounds hard with Flash Cannon and different Tera options.

C to C+ Krookodile being so good is a good thing for Rotom because it can Will-O-Wisp Krookodile, and if they don't want to switch Krookodile in, there's Volt Switch.

C+ to B- Slowbro was a big roadblock to Lycanroc's sweeping and wallbreaking capabilities.

C+ to B Qwilfish is a defensive Water-type that gets better with Slowbro gone

C+ to B- Scyther has seen more usage in recent times; it's a fast pivot that threatens Krookodile, can wear the opposition with U-turn and Close Combat, and it can even provide Defog.

Tauros-Combat UR to C+ No Slowbro and Bulk Up + Trailblaze gives it a solid niche as a sweeper.

Drops and unranks:
A- to B+ Blissey doesn't see that much usage overall
A- to B+ Frosmoth is more tera reliant and/or difficult to use than other setup sweepers like Cloyster and Venomoth may be.
A- to B+ Read Florges

A lot of the remaining Pokemon that dropped tend to be niche Pokemon with low usage, if any substantial amount.
Bombirdier B -> B-
Coalossal B -> B-
Goodra B -> B-
Golduck B- -> C+
Jolteon B- -> C+
Mabosstiff C+ -> C
Vespiquen C+ -> C
Beartic C -> UR
Crocalor C -> UR
Honchkrow C -> UR

 

[Yourwelcomethanku]

A VR update should happen soon, like a week or twos time. We're going to be voting on the new drops to RU as well as Pokemon that are nominated, so you can nominate Pokemon in this thread for us to vote on

 

[Rarelyme]

Late post feli style here we go

--> A/A+
To me this is the best new addition to the tier. Removal is of course important but tsareena also provides an excellent slow pivot which can in on the most used mon of the tier on top of this. It is fairly bulky and can tank hits from relevant threats such as krook, bonnet, thorns or barra and heavily punish them with its powerful stab in Power Whip or force a switch and gain momentum with U-Turn. So tsareena brings some role compression in a tier where it is greatly needed as 0yster rightly pointed out and therefore deserve a high rank on the vr. Not to mention its decent coverage in Play Rough and HJK which makes it not passive against the likes of altaria or bronzong.

--> A/A+
Still an excellent mon which feels really good atm. We've seen a rise of the Fire types like baile and arcanine before the shifts and tauros came in to settle the debate: if you don't have a way to deal with them in your team now then you're kinda doomed. Tauros is very versatile and can fill up many roles which makes him quite easy to throw on a team (to me). I don't feel like talking too much about it because it's no surprise that this guy is good. This tier has been run by stab cc before and I think with the bull coming back it's not likely to end anytime soon.

--> B+
Big fan of this guy. Wouldn't be mad if you think it should place higher tbh. Samurott feels like a breath of fresh air in RU. Viable water type which is decently bulky, offensively good and has access to koff. Again a very flexible mon in terms of sets which can fit on numerous teams as a barra or weavile check (among others ofc), as a knocker or as an efficient bait thanks to its movepool and its ability to run mixed attacks. I've tried many sets but I've been having the most results with Surf/Ice Beam/Knock Off/Protect with lefties, bulk and some speed.

--> B
I might be underestimating this mon because on paper it's really promising with its insane movepool, great speed and decent bulk. But I think it losing against tsareena holds it back a ton. Having your spinner unable to do its job against the opposing spinner feels really bad. Therefore I think its greatest asset in this tier is its speed. I feel like being able to outspeed krook, reva, primeape or even bruxish is really big while also being able to take advantage of the switch out with koff to make progress could be very valuable.

--> C
Prob the worst drop: it loses to hazards and is way too predictable because it has a shitty special movepool. Just use Pyroar, its faster and at least it can properly 2hko fire resists like Altaria.

Don't feel like talking about Grimm because I honestly haven't played it yet.
I feel like I've only said really obvious things but oh well it's late and I need some sleep. Thanks to all the viability rankers for your work on these vr, great job guys keep it up !

 

[Feliburn]

I'd also like to see some insight on already ranked mons. Popular stuff like Weavile and Arcanine surely see some sort of drop in viability due to Tauros' arrival in the tier. I also feel like Bronzong should see a rise in ranking from my experience playing with drops. It feels like a good option if you want to compress rocks + steel typing on a team. It's also a good rocker that doesn't get as immediately threatened as Copperajah vs Tsareena, who is the more popular spinner for the time being. Sure, the issue is hitting Tsareena back, but Bronzong has the tools to do so.

Sneasel Hisui I feel deserves a spot in our rankings, and I'm sure a lot of people in the discord agree with this. It's a cool SD breaker that doesn't care much for intimidate, and has decent bulk with an Eviolite, or immediate breaking power with Life Orb.

I'm sure there are lots of other mons who see some sort of change in this new meta, so feel free to speak up about them

 

[Ampha]

Continuing on Feli's post about Arcanine:

-> B+
Arcanine is still a great pokémon, don't get me wrong, but now it is actually competing for a slot with Blaze Tauros, which imo, is the superior one overall, Arcanine's Morning sun, extreme speed and other tools still make it a viable mon but a 1 rank drop seems fair for me

on the topic of mons which have to compete for a slot

-> B+
Competing for a slot with a very crowded type actually, comes arboliva, it not only received more competition on Toedscruel AND Tsareena, but has been tougher for it to keep up with more and more mons that are good vs it getting relevant or dropping from UU overall, as such, B+ fits it better than the current A- rank it has

-> A+
Some people are gonna call me crazy for bonnet, but it is so consistent overall, Crunch always hits like a truck, Spore is always good to pressure things, and it can often pressure things really hard on switchs, plus the rise of zong as a Steel type is also benefitial for it, as bronzong cant do much back on most cases
Heracross has been rising on RUPL and it gets even better with shifts, Spikes, Guts, HDB, Choiced sets, like man, we even had a AV Heracross winning on Semifinals, this thing has coverage to hit most of the A ranks overall too, this thing is def a A+ on meta rn

-> A

Not gonna write much but I still keep the points I brought last time, consistent deffoger, very splashable, incredible mon overall

 

[Lyra]

I have played enough RU to finally have opinions on some mons tho i still don't feel confident enough

-> A/A-
Tsareena feels very solid as a spinner. It is an amazing mon imo. It checks a wide variety of mons and it resists both ground and water. It also has another amazing thing going for it in U-Turn. Being a spinner AND pivot is great.
Another thing I really like about it is that it's not particularly passive and can hit hard even with little to no investment. For example, with just 40 attack EVs and an adamant nature it has very good chances of two 2hkoing both Sylveon and Florges. I have also tried Band sets which hit very hard and is one predict away from ripping team apart but it is not as consistent as other breakers.
-> A+/A
Another excellent mon. And an old staple I don't have much to say about it except the fact that it's very good and has variety in its sets as well. It's a great band and scarf user, and bulk up sets can snowball very quickly.
-> A-
Samurott is great. It can pick and answer it's answer depending on its movesets. And unlike Barraskewda it can't simply power through everything with Tera boosted water stab & that's what I really love about Samurott. It can't do that. Thus it chooses it's moves based on what it wants to beat. Vaporeon, which i thought would be Rott's biggest counter turns out to be a mere check as it has to get past all the taunts, encores, substitute, etc. Plus Vaporeon doesn't have Scald meaning it can't threaten Rott with a burn. It still smashes through most team with ease as well.
-> B+
Another spinner, yay. Toedscruel brings some variety to teams as it's a ground not phazed by Rotom-Mow. It also has amazing utility moves like Spikes, Spore, Toxic, Knock Off, Rapid Spin, Toxic Spikes, etc. It has stabs with the ability to threaten a bunch of mons. Grass threatens Grounds and Waters while Ground threatens Electric, Steel, Fire, Poison. Though it can't fit everything in its moveset if picked and chosen correctly based on a team it cam reward the player handsomely.
-> B-/C+
Typhlosion has some factors that set it apart from other fires of the tier, tho they are all better than it.
It resists Fairy unlike Tauros-Blaze, it is bulkier than Salazzle, and has the ability to threaten dragons somewhat unlike Arcanine. I was using a Boots set with Flamethrower, Overheat, Tera Blast Ice and Focus Blast. While ofc relying on Tera to threaten dragons isn't really nice but it has that. I genuinely think boots is better than specs and scarf as it's more consistent. I don't have much to say for this.

I haven't used Grimm at all so i don't have thoughts on it sadly.
-> B+/B
This thing is so underrated imo and it dropping seemed like a crime to me. I have used goodra a lot and it feels very nice to use. Specs, Av, Ebelt, Lefties are all very usable. Ebelt is my fav as it is really strong and has coverage for most of the tier. It can also use Tera defensively with Tera water to turn it's ice weakness into a resistance and being a water immune to grass is really good. Nothing is really safe against it except like Blissey which is on a decline. Even the fairies have to be very careful to switchin or goodra can nail them with a Sludge Bomb on the switch and a poison can ruin them. Use it more, it will give results.
-> A
Everyone pretty much covered everything pretty well so i don't have much to say.
-> A
Bronzong feels really nice in the tier. It switches into a lot of mons which are very popular like Gardevoir, Dragalge, Frosmoth, Cloyster, Mudsdale, Florges, Sylveon, etc. It compresses rocks and a bulky steel. It is also a really nice mon to switch into a lot of mons to scout. CM and ID + Body Press are also insanely hard to answer if it gets going.

I have covered alot of what i wanted to and if there is something here that felt wrong or stupid please, tell me I would be glad to know why something is wrong.

 

[cyanize]

alright time 2 do my thing, ill keep individual noms relatively short ion feel like writing much except on a couple i feel strongly about


new mons:

> a/a+
not much 2 say rly it's tauros. bulk up sets r potent breakers/cleaners, scarf is a great tool 2 check n clean on offense, wisp is rly good, cb is a strong breaker. pretty expected cornerstone of the meta

> a
pretty reliable spinner, which we were infamously lacking (i luv tatsu but it is pretty bad at clicking the spin move...) having smth that keeps keys from making infinity progress is the only reason im not nomming keys to s, cus i def would have called it an s rank last update. tsar brings a buncha value 2 the tier, big fan

> b+/a-
very neat breaker because we have few reliable water resists, and even fewer that aren't ruined by knock or all of samu's tech n coverage. i think special mixed w knock is it's most consistent set, tho sd and phys mixed have their place asw. phys kinda competes harder w our other water breakers tho

> a-/a
i think this mons rly solid and is about as good as toxicroak. the extra bulk + speed + inner focus on sd sets a make a HUGE difference, turning things like arcanine, krook, and tauros from checks into non-factors. u miss having the water resist for sure, but it still makes its way on the field decently often w its great resistances and combination of power and speed. and that's not even factoring in the threat of trailblaze, which (surprise!) is good as hell on it, letting you blast ur way thru grounds, being workable coverage vs non-flying ghosts, n making sneasel a v very intimidating midgame threat.
and that's not all! much like croak, it doubles as a functional scarfer; but u trade croaks coverage and extra defensive value for a lot of speed - outpacing everything up to +2 cetitan - and a very big tool in switcheroo, allowing u to cripple major defensive staples for teammates that share checks. admittedly, the bulk for non evio sets is pretty middling and 95 atk, while sufficient, is definitely nothing more; don't expect to melt teams like a flame orb hera. these two traits keep it in check, but even so it's pretty consistently a huge threat when ive used it and very rarely did i think "man i wish i was a toxicroak"

> b+
neat mon, rest bu is a solid long-term wincon, boots/glasses/cb offensive sets r p hard 2 switch into, theres prolly some potential in sub bu. the defensive typing and weird bulk make it kinda hard 2 fit tho imo

> b+
not as consistent as tsareena, the middling phys bulk and miserable ability are pretty notable setbacks. but even so it's hella cool, offensive sets w knock can generate a lot of momentum, tera ice spikes has seen some usage and plays kinda like a budget sandy shocks, spore is still a nice move to have in ur back pocket. eject pack leaf storm is a neat option i havent seen much yet, try it out

other noms:

stay a+
tera ground still destroys teams relying on shakier switchins to this. tauros is bad for it but it threatens everything else new and is still incredibly consistent

stay a-

competes w tauros but it has recovery and a v strong prio as advantages, as well as checking tauros itself if it teras, which is p valuable. still does most of the same stuff it did last meta, think it coulda been a last update so a- seems appropriate rn

> a

levitate is so crazy valuable rn with krook being a top threat, tera ground shenanigans left & right, n muds sitting on top of entire teams solo. it also has a v deep pool of various techs to annoy just about whatever it needs to, between trick toxic orb, hypnosis, future sight, and my personal favorite metal sound. also checking both new grass spinners is great

stay a

maybe woulda agreed w rising this last update, but just about everything we just gained checks it and forces it 2 burn tera more often, as well as tsar competing pretty heavily for a tanky-ish grass type slot. if anything, id drop this; wouldn't put it over tsar n i wouldn't put tsar a+ so

> a+

this mons been absolutely shredding thru teams the past couple weeks and shows no sign of stoppin

> please dont rise this thing

please

ok so im genuinely at a loss as to why and how ppl r hyping up this pokemon. criminally underused widespread mons that dont care about its willowisp aside (belli, rotom, conda, coal, bailecorio, palo....), it is probably the most common target of game-losing teras in the tier. there have been SO many games where it either sits around, doing entirely nothing/clicking maybe 2 moves, or eats up a tera to stopgap check a single thing and subsequently opening the way for like 3 other threats on the team and thus not making any progress again.
on top of this, defog is not that good a move and just gets rid of ur own progress in a tier where hazard control is hard 2 come by, potentially cutting off ur own advantage as often as it does the oppoenents'. sets that drop defog have seemed more appealing but even then dont solve the issue of how abusable it is once u know all its moves, and tendency to lose to things it's supposed to be checking because they literally just set up in its face or cripple it to where it's unusable vs other mons. ive tried it myself after a long time of refusing 2 use it, n it changed my impression none; i found myself disappointed in it more often than i felt like it performed like an a- rank mon, much less anything higher.
some demonstrative replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-693672 here, altaria does entirely nothing; it's scared of even hitting the field for fear of giving soak belli a free volt into lilos threatening weavile. when it does manage to actually cleanly switch in just gets sat on by palossand, then it loses to unterad taunt bailecorio.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-694584 literally just gets 3hkod by hera cc, thanks to a single smart double switch.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-694605 pcds alt provides a free setup opportunity that ends in losing their steel type, and then uses up pcds tera to become steel type just to lose to a florges anyway in exchange for a single spike. and then klefki sets the spike back up. after burning all these resources florg and olive have no issue picking up the scraps
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-695744 two altarias this game, and between then they click a total of 4 moves: 2 burns that are healed off immediately and do nothing, a useless bb, and a bb that picks up a ko on gard thanks to a well timed crit. then real fvs alt loses to a trailblaze moxie hera and the game ends.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9ru-697679 alts tendency 2 be "good" at stopping momentum but bad at generating any without perish song shows up in a lot of mirrors. beraldo and umbrys alts just kinda sit in front of each other until a different team member that can make some progress hits the field to force it out. in the end, beraldos alt befalls the same fate of losing to something critical to beat because of tera that ive seen many altaria fall victim to.
i could write more but i rly wanna go ahead n post this if u want me 2 change ur mind on altaria more just hmu.

> a-

wish is p consistent rn because it's quite hard to punish even after gaining more grasses, thanks to yawn/ibeam. offensive cm is good and abuses a lot of common building trends, and also is a fire/water check on faster paced teams which is super valuable

> b

this shoulda rose further last update. my friend rotom n here is the swiss army knife infinite utility mon ppl seem 2 think altaria is. ghost stab + volt alone is very hard 2 keep from making progress, esp since its typing gives it switchins on plenty of meta staples; then u add on the threat of will-o to cripple a plethora of targets especially krook, AND a very good candidate for trickscarf to further incapacitate opponents, and u have a mon that puts in work in almost any mu. being slower than krook/ori n having rather underwhelming bulk keeps it from being a top tier mon, but i firmly believe it should be seeing way more usage than it is rn

lightning round:
> a- - been findin it harder 2 justify this on teams over keys, rev, n especially zong; levitate and fight neutrality r jus 2 important rn
> b - nobody uses this thing n its easier 2 beat than ever
> b+ - jus like bonnet, more competition and threats
> b+ - should b same rank as sylv. plus more zong and good poisons is bad
> b - disrespected last update. ground immune knock+turn is crazy value, bulk is plenty usable, more grasses = good
> b - its an oricorio. our fire switchins arent v good. lets be real here
> b - flying/fighting coverage is good in ru who would have thought. been showing up p consistently in rupl
> b-/b - kinda hard to fit but p few teams r safe vs coil tera dragon
> b - agree, acid spray is cool, poison+fire coverage w dragon stab punishes a lot rn
> b?? - this should def get ranked but i havent seen it or used it
> c+ - havent seen or used this either but im not convinced there's a rsn 2 use it over any other fire

 

[Sneakyplanner]

Hot take time:

New drops:
-> A+: tauros is back and better than ever with slowbro being replaced by the weaker and more stone edgeable altaria.
-> A-: Tsareena sucks, which is why it hurts that it's so good. It's the best spinner we have but it really struggles with 4 moveslot syndrome and bad stats.
-> B: Toedscruel is not very good and spore is a bad move on it but it's got some good tools and it is an excellent abuser of rotom-mow.
-> B+: it's alright, pretty good, even.
-> C+: It's not alright but you could justify using it sometimes.
-> B+: It's pretty good but I have no idea how to build it yet other than as a really strong sucker punch user for all the bs setup sweepers

oldies:
-> b+: I'm going to out hot take cyanize and say that this thing is being severely underrated since it can help a team with multiple mons weak to krook or bonnet be safe.
-> A+: I think this mon is very easily on the same level as grafaiai as a fast, strong, tricky pokemon that benefits from being slightly faster than other options for this slot like grafaiai and mismagius. Also tauros-fire joining the tier makes salazzle (specifically encore salazzle) as a very useful switch in to the bull.
stay A: Despite what the nonbeliever above me might say, I think copperajah has a strong niche in the tier as the only steel type with both bulk (unlike vroom) and actual offensive power (unlike bronzong and klefki)
-> B: Palossand is still useful but I feel like I just never see it and never need to fit it on a team. Ghost typing hurts more than it helps and shore up doesn't really make it stay around much longer than mudsdale.
-> C+: this thing just does nothing.
-> B+/A-: This thing is actually pretty good. It's a nice decently bulky, decently offensive pokemon that has the rare water typing. And as everyone is talking about h-qwilfish, this thing also gets barb barrage. A set of waterfall, barb barrage, spikes and filler like taunt, protect, twave or tspikes is solid.
-> A+: Possibly the hottest take and very pedantic but I just don't think we have an s tier pokemon right now. Krook and gardevoir are top tiers but are they that much better than grafaiai and mudsdale?

 

[Kiyosi Itô]

I agree with your opinion!

 

[eifo]

VR Update!

Rises and additions

New to B+

New to B+

New to A

New to A-

New to A-

New to C+

New to B+

New to C+

A- to A

B+ to A-

B- to B+

B- to B

B- to B

B- to B

C+ to B-

C+ to B-

drops and removals

Drops and removals
A to A-

A- to B+

B+ to B

C+ to UR

C to UR

C to UR.

C to UR

Rises and additions with reasonings

New to B+
Grimmsnarl has various different sets it can run between four attacks, three attacks Thunder Wave, CB Trick, Sub Bulk Up, and Rest Talk Bulk Up. Sucker Punch and Twave are especially useful to deal with the various set up sweepers. It does, however, face competition from other offensive dark types, namely Krook and Weavile, while it struggles to break through Mudsdale, Florges, Sylveon, Revavroom, etc, depending on which set it is using.
New to B+
Samurott sets itself apart from the other offensive water types with its access to Knock Off. Tera Water with Hydro/Beam/Knock/Jet or Liquidation/ Beam/Knock/Jet are both solid. Specially based mixed is less reliable in that it relies on an inaccurate move, but it is also even better at making progress if it hits its moves. SD with tera dark is also a solid breaker which has seen success, most recently in RU Open.
New to A
Tauros-B is a phenomenal mon. Bulk up sets are potent breakers/cleaners, scarf is a great tool to revenge set up mons, cb is a strong breaker, and wisp lets it cripple Muds and other walls. It also provides a great deal of defensive utility through its typing and intimidate, which, among other things, may let it check Weavile, Revavroom, Grafaiai, Heracross, Arcanine, etc.
New to A-
Toedscruel provides a great deal of utility as a spinner, spiker, ground resist, and electric immunity. Being a spinner that can check non-Magnet Rise Klefki is especially useful, although it does not appreciate getting switcherood a Toxic Orb. It also has access to Knock Off and Spore to cripple opposing mons, while its great speed tier lets it outspeed most non-scarfed mons, such as Krookodile, Arcanine, Toxicroak, Bruxish, Primeape Revavroom, etc. To add to this, its offensive stabs are relatively threatening on their own, and with tera ice it can even muscle past would-be walls such as Altaria, Mowtom, Tsareena, etc., while Eject Pack lets it retain momentum. Granted, it is held back by its lackluster special attack stat and unfortunate ability.
New to A-
Tsareena is a reliable spinner and defensive pivot. Its defensive typing lets it switch into into grasses, waters, and grounds, while U-turn lets it pivot out into a breaker of your choice. it also has access to coverage moves such as HJK and Play Rough, which lets it threaten steels, Altaria, Heracross, etc. Most important, however, is the fact that it does something as rare as sitting on Klefki - the premier Spiker of the tier.
New to C+
Typhlosion is a niche mon which mostly exists to do match-up fishing. Tera fire Eruption can catch unprepared opponents off guard, as can tera ice tera blast, but it does come with a great opportunity cost as you may no longer use your tera on other mons.
New to B+
Sneasel-H can reliably use both Scarf, CB, and Eviolite SD. The extra speed and inner focus sets it apart from Toxicroak, letting it outspeed and OHKO Arcanine, Krook, and Tauros after a Swords Dance or with tera fighting CB CC. Eviolite is a big boon to SD sets, as it becomes far bulkier than Croak, particularly on the special side, although it does miss the water immunity. Trailblaze is also a neat option on SD sets, typically with tera grass, as it lets it break through Palossand while also boosting its speed. Scarf lets it outspeed and revenge most of the set-up sweepers in the tier, while access to Switcheroo lets it shed the scarf and cripple walls in the process. Crucially, it even outspeeds Cloyster after a Shell Smash and Cetitan in snow. Admittedly, the bulk for non-evio sets is pretty middling, while 95 atk is definitely nothing more than sufficient.
New to C+
Qwilfish-H is a usable but niche spiker. It can beat or at least weaken the spinners with Gunk/Barb Barrage, while it can Taunt defoggers.
A- to A
Bronzong is increasingly preferred over Copperajah, mainly due to its ground immunity, which is useful versus Krook, Muds, Cetitan, Iron Thorns, and various tera ground set-up mons. It also has access to cute tools that Copper does not, such as CM Stored Power, Hypnosis, Trick Toxic Orb, and Future Sight.
B+ to A-
Aboma is the premier snow and veil setter, both of which are valuable in our fast-paced meta. It also has pretty threatening Ice/Ground/Grass coverage, while snow lets it tank almost any physical hit from full, including Hera CC, Vroom Gunk, etc.
B- to B+
Baile does precisely what Sensu does, except with a slightly different initial typing. The fire typing lets it threaten steels and act as a fire and grass resist prior to tera. However, on the flip side, it alsos mean that it is weak to water, most crucially Aqua Jet from Skewda/Samu, while it also cannot function as a spinblocker, unlike Sensu.
B- to B
Bombirdier benefits from the additions of Tsar and Toedscruel, as it is a rocker which walls them and keeps sr up vs them.
B- to B
Goodra also benefits from more grasses, as it gets more opportunities to come in and break. Specs, Av, Ebelt, and Boots are all usable.
B- to B
Scyther also benefits from more grasses, as well as the addition of Tauros-B. Flying/fighting coverage with stab U-Turn is great, while SD Quick Attack/Trailblaze are solid late-game cleaners.
C+ to B-
Rotom is a decent scarfer which provides immunities to fighting, normal, and ground, while also being able to cripple walls and physical attackers with Trick and Will-O-Wisp. Ghost stab + volt alone is hard to keep from making progress, especially since its typing lets it switch into plenty of meta staples, while Wisp and Trick cripple Krook, Muds, Bliss, etc. Granted, its bulk and speed tier - especially being slower than Krook and Oricorio - keep it from being a top tier mon.
C+ to B-
Sandaconda is a cool pick these days. Being a ground type which also provides you with a status absorber and ways of making progress through Coil is rather nifty, while tera lets it beat many of its would be counters.

Drops and removals with reasonings

A to A-
Copperajah competes with other steels, most notably Bronzong, and as of late it has been harder to justify using it over Zong.
A- to B+
The drops hurt Arboliva. Tauros-B and Sneasel-H both beat it 1v1 and discourage it from clicking grass moves, while Toedscruel and Tsareena both compete with it for a slot as the grass type. It is thus not as effective nor as splashable as it once was.
B+ to B
While Frosmoth preys on slow builds, it struggles to get going versus more offensive builds, and the current meta favors the latter. The rise of Barraskewda is especially problematic for Frosmoth, as Skewda outspeeds and OHKOs Moth even after a QD, unless Moth is at full and in snow. Moreover, it depends on tera to make progress, and using your tera entails a significant opportunity cost. Frosmoth is thus relegated to the role of an unreliable sweeper.
C+ to UR
Tauros-C is outclassed by Tauros-Blaze.
C to UR
Komala had a slight niche up until the most recent shift, in that it could spin on and beat Klefki without getting crippled by Switcheroo Toxic Orb or Thunder Wave. However, with the addition of Tsareena, a far better pokemon which also beats Klefki, it no longer has this niche.
C to UR
Toedscruel and Tsareena have dropped and are better Grass-type removal options than Lurantis. Lurantis is also a lowly ranked Pokemon that was a legitimate choice in the early days of the tier, but hasn't proven itself much since the early metas with Haxorus and Light Clay.
C to UR
It is supremely difficult to justify using Veluza over any of the other offensive water types or set up sweepers. If you want an offensive water type, Barraskewda, Bruxish, or Samurott will do the job better. If you want a water type set-up sweeper, Cloyster is a superior option. On top of this, it also faces competition from all the other set-up sweepers in the tier.