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OU The OU Viability Ranking thread
- Thread starter PK Gaming
- Start date
- Status
Update
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi. That's insane.
-The points brought up by some of the users in this thread (BKC's post comes to mind) are absolutely.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on. I can't guarantee that, but if I do falter, i'm counting on you guys to set things right.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi. That's insane.
-The points brought up by some of the users in this thread (BKC's post comes to mind) are absolutely.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on. I can't guarantee that, but if I do falter, i'm counting on you guys to set things right.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
This post has just made a lot of people very happy. #EarlyChristmasUpdate
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi.
-The points brought up by some users in this thread (Jirachi's incredible versatile, effectiveness against several prominent threats, unpredictability) are absolutely valid.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
Besides that I think that the lsit is really solid. Im still kinda thinking that Lilligant should move up, but other than that, GREat jOB!!!!!
No matter how much I disagree with S-Rachi, I am truly 100% in love with this GIF :p
EDIT: also, now that we have that issue out of the way, I got an idea I found from the PU viability ranking threads in the OM threads a long time ago: write ups, basically there is a mini paragraph explaining why the pokemon is a certain rank, these are of course made by the community and submitted to the host of the rankings. This explains changes n' stuff to people who maybe weren't here or are new to this thinking, explanations really do help and are awesome to have in the long run.
Update
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi. That's insane.
-The points brought up by some of the users in this thread (BKC's post comes to mind) are absolutely.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on. I can't guarantee that, but if I do falter, i'm counting on you guys to set things right.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
After almost a whole year of waiting, debating, and complete bitching, the one that we call Jirachi has officially been moved up to S rank (I was going to make a reply to PK's original reply to me but work the past two days has delayed that even though I'm on break doing this shit). I honestly never believed that this day would come, but I am happy I was able to witness it while still active on the forums. PK, you gave me half a chub after I read you moved Jirachi up to S-rank. I know you are also editing some of the lower tiers but I'm sure once those are done, the tiers will look exactly how they should with the end of BW coming soon.
Update
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi. That's insane.
-The points brought up by some of the users in this thread (BKC's post comes to mind) are absolutely.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on. I can't guarantee that, but if I do falter, i'm counting on you guys to set things right.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
YES!
Update
Jirachi up from A+ ==> S
I know I'm literally going against the post I just made, but please bear with me.
I've made a serious error in judgement and I've decide to own up to it. To be completely honest, I didn't even consider moving Jirachi up because I was convinced that the opposing side was flat out wrong. I was led to believe this because of my own experiences and feedback from my close circle of friends. In addition to that, I was getting increasingly frustrated by the same tiresome arguments thrown for Jirachi moving up to S-tier, to the point where I inadvertently blinded myself to some legitimately good points being made by the opposing side because they were in close proximity to the bad arguments. What I should have done was get a wider perspective on this whole issue (instead of talking to my group of friends).
Here's the jist of why it happened.
-I talked to a variety of players (Ladder players, Tournament players, intelligent users, etc) and there was an overwhelming support for Jirachi to move up S-rank.
-Jirachi is ridiculously overused in high-level tournaments. I think we saw over 40% of teams using Jirachi. That's insane.
-The points brought up by some of the users in this thread (BKC's post comes to mind) are absolutely.
I never should have applied my own biases like that. I'm sorry for completely damning us and preventing this thread from moving forward. Hopefully things end up running smoothly from now on. I can't guarantee that, but if I do falter, i'm counting on you guys to set things right.
So with that, Jirachi is finally S-rank.
YAY!!!!!
Only one small problem:it won't stay up there for long.With 6th Gen coming up,steel loses it's resistance to dark,so Jirachi will start getting pursuit trapped by Scizor and possibly even Scarf Tyranitar.It's Sp.Def set will no longer wall Gengar and Alakazam like it used to.
Well,I should really not talk about that right now,because this thread is for the viability ranking of the pokemon in the current metagame.Its fun to predict what will happen,anyways.
We'll have to see. Being resistant to Fairy-type (which I think is a little over-hyped, it seems more like a balance patch to the typing chart than a really OVERWHLEMING type) *MIGHT* counteract its weakness to Dark- and Ghost- type moves. We'll find out soon enough if the new generation is friendly to our favorite pixie.
But yes, we are digressing. Back to discussing viability and tiering, y'all x)
From the definition of A Rank:
I think there should probably be a slight modification to the definition that includes some variation of "supporting its team" etc. Mainly the reason I say this is Ninetales, which, while it can't sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame (just no, lol), it provides incredible team support when used effectively.
That being said, I'd advocate moving Ninetales from A+ to A: in order for it to work effectively, not only do teams need a spinner, but for Ninetales to truly function at its best, it requires that teams carry a lure for opposing weather starters. This support requires *two members* of a sun team to be *dedicated* to supporting Ninetales, which I hardly feel is befitting of an A+ rank Pokemon.
I'd also like to start up a little discussion on Heatran. Basically, from what I can tell, the main arguments against using Heatran are that it doesn't fit well with the current metagame, and it's got a water weakness (again, doesn't fit well with the current metagame). On the flip side, Heatran provides incredible support to sun and sand teams, practically walling Sun Teams on its own if running a specially defensive set, and keeping the weather sunny with its magma trapper set; it or dugtrio (or a similar politoed lure, like Giga Drain Volca or something) are a staple on every viable sun team right now. Additionally, while it has become much rarer, the scarf set still has a niche in the current meta, although admittedly its primary value is surprise. A specs set is also viable in sun, providing a ridiculously overpowered overheat/fire blast.
Specifically, Heatran, while it doesn't do it as often as it should be able to, can run a quite potent offensive set alongside defensive and team supporting varieties. This versatility, alongside a metagame that is relatively weak to offensive Heatran in sun or sand, make Heatran somewhat versatile and able to either power through or wall a significant portion of the metagame. I'm not suggesting any tier movement on Heatran, but I though I'd stir up a little discussion on it.
Erm, yeah.
I think there should probably be a slight modification to the definition that includes some variation of "supporting its team" etc. Mainly the reason I say this is Ninetales, which, while it can't sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame (just no, lol), it provides incredible team support when used effectively.
That being said, I'd advocate moving Ninetales from A+ to A: in order for it to work effectively, not only do teams need a spinner, but for Ninetales to truly function at its best, it requires that teams carry a lure for opposing weather starters. This support requires *two members* of a sun team to be *dedicated* to supporting Ninetales, which I hardly feel is befitting of an A+ rank Pokemon.
I'd also like to start up a little discussion on Heatran. Basically, from what I can tell, the main arguments against using Heatran are that it doesn't fit well with the current metagame, and it's got a water weakness (again, doesn't fit well with the current metagame). On the flip side, Heatran provides incredible support to sun and sand teams, practically walling Sun Teams on its own if running a specially defensive set, and keeping the weather sunny with its magma trapper set; it or dugtrio (or a similar politoed lure, like Giga Drain Volca or something) are a staple on every viable sun team right now. Additionally, while it has become much rarer, the scarf set still has a niche in the current meta, although admittedly its primary value is surprise. A specs set is also viable in sun, providing a ridiculously overpowered overheat/fire blast.
Specifically, Heatran, while it doesn't do it as often as it should be able to, can run a quite potent offensive set alongside defensive and team supporting varieties. This versatility, alongside a metagame that is relatively weak to offensive Heatran in sun or sand, make Heatran somewhat versatile and able to either power through or wall a significant portion of the metagame. I'm not suggesting any tier movement on Heatran, but I though I'd stir up a little discussion on it.
Erm, yeah.
Eh, I'm not suggesting that Heatran gets moved up, but I honestly think Heatran does very well vs. rain teams. I'm talking about the specially defensive set here mainly (although the offensive trapper set demolishes rain teams), as the SpDef set easily cripples common switch ins like Rotom-W, Politoed, Jellicent, and Keldeo. Toxic is such a good option on Heatran, as it cripples the bulky water types found on rain teams. Then there's the fact that Steel types like Jirachi, Scizor, and Ferrothorn thrive in the rain, all of which are countered by Heatran. Heatran is one of the few Pokemon that can claim to counter Rain Volc, Sub CM Jirachi, Latias, Specs Tornadus, and other rain sweepers, which seem to shit over most special walls.
Heatran is incredible vs rain, and this is me speaking from personal experience.
Heatran is incredible vs rain, and this is me speaking from personal experience.
Erm, its pretty foolish to run Tyrantitar if yoy run rain. So by your logic, Tyrantitar should be moved down. No, I think Heatran's problem is his inability to switch in to some of the top-ranked threats in the metagame. Lando, Chomp, Keldeo, Terrakion, Politoed, Rotom Wash, etc. The support it provides is undeniable though, and the fact that it forces sun teams to run something to deal with Heatran is pretty good. ShootinStarmie, Heatran is a bitch to Ferro, but The res of the team usually deals with t.
Heatran is good, but not srank. I know thats what your saying, but saying it doesnt fit on raintrams is the reason is just wrong. Offensive sets are just too slow, though they are devastating when played correctly.
I agree, what I said was dumb, but I can't delete my post, so oh well.
Can we please stop saying sun NEEDs a spinner, I'm not saying I'm an all knowing god of pokemon nor sun teams, but we really need to keep an open mind, we can't see it's honestly a requirement, the fact that most sun teams have mons like sawsbuck or venusaur that destroy politoed or non sdef ttar(sdef ttar does meet an end to jump kick sawsbuck and horn leech sawsbuck though, oh and boosted/unboosted EQ venu, which has become a bit popular over time to deal with heatran) , and if we're sticking with common sense here, sun teams aren't carrying 6 fire types, just like how *good* rain teams aren't carrying 6 hydro spammers, the average sun team without a spinner is venu or another chloro/tales/lati@s or a*nother* special wall/fire type like tini or volc/good random mon like chomp or rachi/2nd chloro or 2nd fire type. That random mon or Lati@s slot is honestly WASTED by a spinner, lets admit it, the only good sun spinners right is forre(donphan is so meh imo) it gets wrecked by the fact that fire moves get boosted, and it in general can't preform consistantly with all the high power moves being thrown around with SR up not letting it switch in, spinners in general are hard to fit on teams these days. Overall, a spinner is only needed if your running something like, what, 4 total fire types? overall, most teams can keep offensive pressure up to the point where SR isn't set up, or the suicide lead SR setter is only getting it up and not getting another shot to move (custap skarm is really easy to beat imo if you can see it coming, people need to catch on to that) effectivly making the game 6-5, overall if your good enough, you don't need a spinner, standard sun venu/tales/fire abuse/fire abuse/fire abuse/last-slot-filler teams are really over played and bad these days, if your running a y' know, good enough sun team, you won't need a spinner. It's like saying using ttar ALWAYS requires a half decent psychic type, or running politoed requires a latias check (not counter because polittar is really a bad core, and the only rain counter to lati@s is sdef jirachi, since scizor gets 2HKOd by most variant's HP fires regardless), it's only true if your team is LARGELY weak to the specified problem (though I do suggest running scizor or rachi to check latias for rain teams though, latias is a damned threat to most-all rain teams), sure tales is SR weak, but picking a pokemon with 0 synergy on your team and is deadweight once the rocks have been spun/whatever other 1 job has been done that leaves you open to so much other stuff just to fix 1 minor problem on 1 unimportant pokemon on your team (lets admit it people, the only time you care about keeping your weather starter alive is when your either running ttar *in general* and the foe has a lati@s or when there is a weather war happening) is a bad choice for any team.
**Edit: If I sound like a fanboy, feel free to call me out on it, since I'm the only damn person you'll see trying to say ninetales should be @ the same rank as toed n' ttar or at least not moved down :/
Dude. Did you just say that any halfway good sun team doesn't need a spinner? is any sun team with a volcarona, victini or darmanitan bad? And ninetales very much appreciates spin support, since you know, it already has the hardest time winning the weather war (abomasnow doesn't count). Custap Skarm, the poster boy of HO, is guaranteed rocks against sun, and usually gets up two layers of hazards since really only max speed timid tales with will-o-wisp can force it to a single layer. Spinning also allows dugtrio to keep its sash, and dugtrio is an awesome poke to defeat heatran, t-tar, and weakened politoeds.
Most spinners actually have pretty decent synergy with a sun team. Donphan is a kinda niche spinner, but it can check some of the physical attackers (i.e. terrakion) that pain sun teams. Forretress can lay down every hazard, and has a good typing to prevent multiple weaknesses to the same types as most sun pokes. Analytic LO Starmie offers precious BoltBeam coverage, and is a good check to rain. Hitmontop is even more niche than donphan, but it guarantees the spin with foresight.
tl;dr your post is dumb
If you actually read through half my post instead of misquoting me you would know I actually said any team stacking up to like 4 SR weaknesses is bad, and so using a spinner would only fix those teams, but other teams don't really NEED it like DrunkLee said (if your packing all victini, darm and volc at the same time with tales, then it's not really that good of a team, js). also Hitmontop is bad, donpan is meh, analytic starmie really doesn't offer much on sun teams as, it bnest STAB gets fucked, and it's really not checking anything sun teams have too much of a problem with *most sun teams have good enough rain checks already, no need to stack doubles* other than revenge killing terrak which most chloro-ers can already do :/. and Donphan is donphan, I don't know why that things gets usage let alone in sun teams, and yeah duggy is good to have it's sash intact, but lets be honest, your not going to keep duggies sash enough consistantly for it to be a SERIOUS issue. I'm responding to the fact that people said that sun NEEDS a spinner, so saying "it helps" is not even adressing the point of my post
Every sun team needs a spinner?
I completely disagree with Ninetales being moved down to A rank. It is the defining force of BW2 OU Sun teams and it is impossible to build one without Ninetales. Ninetales is the reason that so many Pokemon are powerful and need to be accounted for. The sheer power of offensive sun teams gives it a team advantage against almost every weatherless team due to the forces of some sun abusing Pokemon such as Volcarona, Venusaur, Victini and Sawsbuck. Ninetales itself brings all of these Pokemon into action while simultaneously halving the damage of water attacks and activating a boost in Fire-type moves' power. Even the Pokemon itself, Ninetales, has a few tricks up its sleeve as well. The defensive set (in my opinion its best set) is capable of impairing any physically-attacking Pokemon with its swift 100-base speed Will-o-Wisps. Despite attack investment, the power of a sun-boosted STAB Fire Blast can't be undermined either. Ninetales can also bring moves like Sunny Day to screw up Politoed and Tyranitar switch-ins as well, only forcing them to take more entry hazard damage. Obviously though, Ninetales isn't OU due to its movepool or stat distribution, rather due to the utility that Drought brings.
Drought has such a heavy impact on the metagame it is hard to fathom why one would think it deserves a lower viability ranking. Many mention that Ninetales needs a large amount of support to work properly (e.g. spinners) but this is easily worth the trade that Drought brings. Furthermore, there are a plethora of Pokemon that can easily support Ninetales such as Forretress, Donphan, Xatu, Espeon, Cresselia and others. The description of A rank for support Pokemon is that "supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time". Ninetales easily does this and more. Not only do many Chlorophyll sweepers get access to Growth, but Growth's use is doubled under sun, meaning that you can essentially give a Pokemon three stats which are doubled in the space of a turn simply through the addition of Ninetales. If that's not "creating free turns easily" then I don't know what is.
Keep Ninetales in A+.
I completely disagree with Ninetales being moved down to A rank. It is the defining force of BW2 OU Sun teams and it is impossible to build one without Ninetales. Ninetales is the reason that so many Pokemon are powerful and need to be accounted for. The sheer power of offensive sun teams gives it a team advantage against almost every weatherless team due to the forces of some sun abusing Pokemon such as Volcarona, Venusaur, Victini and Sawsbuck. Ninetales itself brings all of these Pokemon into action while simultaneously halving the damage of water attacks and activating a boost in Fire-type moves' power. Even the Pokemon itself, Ninetales, has a few tricks up its sleeve as well. The defensive set (in my opinion its best set) is capable of impairing any physically-attacking Pokemon with its swift 100-base speed Will-o-Wisps. Despite attack investment, the power of a sun-boosted STAB Fire Blast can't be undermined either. Ninetales can also bring moves like Sunny Day to screw up Politoed and Tyranitar switch-ins as well, only forcing them to take more entry hazard damage. Obviously though, Ninetales isn't OU due to its movepool or stat distribution, rather due to the utility that Drought brings.
Drought has such a heavy impact on the metagame it is hard to fathom why one would think it deserves a lower viability ranking. Many mention that Ninetales needs a large amount of support to work properly (e.g. spinners) but this is easily worth the trade that Drought brings. Furthermore, there are a plethora of Pokemon that can easily support Ninetales such as Forretress, Donphan, Xatu, Espeon, Cresselia and others. The description of A rank for support Pokemon is that "supporting Pokemon in this rank may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time". Ninetales easily does this and more. Not only do many Chlorophyll sweepers get access to Growth, but Growth's use is doubled under sun, meaning that you can essentially give a Pokemon three stats which are doubled in the space of a turn simply through the addition of Ninetales. If that's not "creating free turns easily" then I don't know what is.
Keep Ninetales in A+.
Nobody's arguing that the benefits of having sun up aren't immense, rather that as a weather inducer Ninetales is completely inferior to Politoed and Ttar, checks next to nothing in the tier, and has zero offensive presence. This means that, while the support Ninetales brings is awesome, it is rarely able to actually give the support with the plethora of sand and rain teams on the ladder. Even if you will-o on the switch to TTar a banded stone edge is going to rock you should you stay in, and if rocks are up as you switch out you will have to spin at some point, giving the oppponent free turns, etc etc. Rain teams have so much stuff that can set up on Ninetales it's not even funny, not to mention that if Politoed comes in for free and you don't have a Chansey something has to take a ton of damage if they're specs.
Also, I think you understand the meaning of free turns. My understanding of it is giving your opponent a turn to do whatever they want, which is almost unavoidable with Ninetales when faced with a Heatran, Latias etc.
And I'm arguing that its pros overcome its few cons...? What is your point meant to be? That you can only give a Pokemon's ranking viability based on what it can't do? Also, the way you worded 'Ninetales being a completely inferior weather inducer to TTar' is just ridiculous. They shouldn't even be compared in that they perform different roles and Ninetales brings weather that used in a much different manner to Sandstorm. The latter of which helps get rid of opposing weather while the former is meant to be abused for its qualities. Furthermore you're completely skewing that scenario so that a) rocks are up so you can't switch and b) you can't abuse the fact that your opposing is locked into a burnt rock type move. Lastly you say Rain teams have so much stuff that can set up on Ninetales that it's not funny... This is just an awful argument. Sun teams can set up on Rain as well. That also implies that I'm stupid enough just to leave Ninetales in all game rather than use it as a support mon for setting up sun and crippling opponents. Moreover, Ninetales has Roar to dismiss any setup sweepers as well.
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Honestly you should not be switching in ninetales into any other weather more than 2 times in general, all ninetales should really be switched in for against another weather is A) leading, B) setting up sun after the war has been one and C) emergencies, it's not worth risking the weather war just to get a 2 second sweep with +2 venusaur only for there to be a toed + switch ruining your fun and outside of weather tales really offers no assistances outside of emergencies like having to check opposing volc when heatran is down. However this does not make ninetales bad, roar, WoW and DROUGHT are all ninetales needs to be good, heck I'd argue toed is worse because it has lower speed to handle the multitude of fast threats in the current meta, and it can be set up on by any good set up sweeper, at least tales can roar CMlatias and other stuff, but I don't want people to whine about this tiny opinion of mine which really has 0 relevancy to this post's intended point. Regardless, tales has been A+ for quite a while, and "needs spinner" is a pretty shit argument for bringing a pokemon that makes entire playstyles viable down a rank, especially when it's not even a true one at that.
Spin support is beneficial for any Pokemon that doesn't have magic guard. However, spin support can be more beneficial to some pokemon than others. While Ninetales doesn't "need" spin support absolutely, his weakness to rocks and vulnerability to the other forms of hazards make spin support greatly desirable for him. If you're making a sun team, you'd probably have at least one other fire-type pokemon on your team and would also greatly appreciate spin support.
Just because you don't plan on switching Ninetales in a lot doesn't change the fact that he's weak to stealth rocks, a disadvantage that none of the other OU weather starters have.
Just because you don't plan on switching Ninetales in a lot doesn't change the fact that he's weak to stealth rocks, a disadvantage that none of the other OU weather starters have.
Being on the A-rank tier is good. Clearly not as got as A+, but it's still good. Ninetales is a good pokemon, but when compared to the other OU weather starters, he kind of falls flat. His typing isn't so good for defense and his stats are decidedly mediocre. Ninetales may be fast, but as a weather starter, being faster isn't a good thing and he's the fastest weather starter there is. That means that when facing an opposing weather team, they'll always be able to get their weather up first turn. Ninetales has some supportive moves, but then again... you'd have to have a very barren move pool if you didn't have at least a couple supportive moves. Ninetales is most defnitely not better than Politoed. Politoed has better bulk, better Sp. atk, better typing (meaning no weakness to stealth rocks), and arguably a better move pool.
I'm not arguing that its pros don't overcome its cons; I've been laddering with a sun team of my own so I do know about Nintales' benefits and limitations. And no, it is not at all ridiculous to say that Ninetales is a worse weather inducer than TTar and Politoed, because I'm not talking about the weather itself, I'm referring to how good they are at actually summoning the weather. And as for you saying we shouldn't class a pokemon on what it can't do, yes we should- the criteria for an A rank supporting pokmemon is 'may give opponents free turns or cannot create free turns easily themselves, but can still do their job most of the time.'
How is assuming rocks are up unreasonable? Getting hazards and pressuring the spinner / magic bouncer should be a priority when facing a sun team, and there's a good chance the Ttar would just set up rocks itself. And when you think about it there's very little commonly found on sun teams that can set up on a burnt stone edge- Forretress can get up hazards or spin, Venusaur can Growth but it's not going to be sweeping if you just let Ninetales die to SE, and Dugtrio can come in and trap if your opponent doesn't see it coming. That's all I can think of.
Yes sun teams can set up on rain teams, but only once they have won the weather war. Rain teams typically have stuff like Tentacruel, Keldeo and Latias that will come in for free regardless of the weather. And yes Ninetales has Roar, but when are you going to Roar and risk the Dragonite being band not lum, Garchomp going straight for EQ, etc? In my experience of using Ninetales I only find myself roaring opposing Volcaronas and CM Latis when desperate, or when predicting their switch to rack up hazards damage. All in all, when using Ninetales, at least half your team tends to end being dedicated to winning weather wars, and when a supporting mon needs that much support itself, it doesn't deserve to be A+ in my opinion.
edit: sorry for being a bit brief in my last post; it led to a few misunderstandings
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