I would like to nominate 2 Pokemon who are not yet ranked.
First one is Crobat. I have been playing around a bit with the bat and find it to be an excellent wallbreaker and lead scout.
Crobat is only outsped by a few number of pokemon in the OU tier and is the fastest taunt-user along with Aerodacytl. Leading of with Crobat is something you wont regret in 90% of the cases.
Comparing Crobat to Aerodacytl is probably the first thing to do. Aerodactyl has the favor of being able to set up rocks but if the opponent anticipates your Aerodactyl lead you lost the momentum as you are forced to hard switch Pokemon. Something which isnt so when you start with Crobat due to the reason that Crobat has access to U-Turn while Aerodacytly doesnt. If Crobat is up against something that threatens to OHKO it, Crobat can usually just U-Turn out. Crobat only has to worry about Scarfed opponents, STAB Ice Shard or about losing the speed tie with Jolteon and Aerodactyl.
A second thing that makes Crobat a valuable pokemon is it's access to Brave Bird (which Aerodactyl doesnt by the way). Crobat has a decent Atk stat which can EV'ed so that Brave Bird can do big damage to a few notorious pokemon in the OU tier. I have found that a lot of people tend to see Crobat as an easy switch in for their weather starters, but when EVs are put into Attack Brave Bird does big damage to Ninetales and Politoed, where as Tyranitar will not be eager to switch in on a pokemon that has a fast U-Turn.
Thirdly, Crobat has a nice defensive typing: it's 4x resistant against Bug, Fighting and Grass and is immune to Ground. On top of that 85/80/80 defenses isnt that bad for a Pokemon that is meant to scout and break walls. Furthermore it has acces to healing with Roost. Seeing as how fast it is, it can easily Roost to negate lesser Thunder, Ice and Rock attacks aimed at it that would otherwise harm it more than the 50% Roost heals.
Lastly, Crobat is immune to Toxic, which gives it another switch opportunity. Especially when you keep in mind that Pokemon using Toxic are mostly Pokemon that Crobat loves to Taunt.
What sets Crobat back is it's lack of options. Apart from being a stallbreaker/scout it can't do much. With that speed a Choice Band set looks interesting and 90 Atk stat is definitely bandable but Crobat lacks moves that it can use. Brave Bird recoil cant be healed with Roost unless at the expense of being locked into it.
A second thing that isnt helpful to the bat is the lack of a good ability. Inner Focus only deals with Fake Out Leads seeing as how fast Crobat is and it is highly situational that this ability proves useful. Infiltrator isnt that great either seeing as light screen and reflect aren't that popular nowadays and that Crobat isnt meant to deal damage in most cases.
Crobat often gets the negative reaction that it has nothing to do vs the steel types dominating the OU metagame but Ferrothorn and Skarmory are rendered useless by Taunt and cannot do anything to the bat either as it easily heals off the damage done by them with Roost (except Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball). And as I mentioned before Crobat can easily escape gnarly situations with U-Turn.
Either way I think Crobat deserves a nomination into the C Rank.
Summarize:
- Fastest Taunt user along with Aerodactyl (not counting Electrode)
- Fastest U-Turn user after Ninjask and Accelgor (who both dont use it that often)
- Many switch in options due to 3 4x resists, 1 immunity and immunity to Toxic.
- Acces to Brave Bird and Roost
The second Pokemon I would like to nominate is Porygon2. Again my nomination is the result of personal experiences with this Pokemon.
I only tested one set but this set was great and frustrated a lot of my opponents. This set is pretty standard on Porygon2. The set I'm talking about is the Defensive Eviolite set with Trace Ability and with Recover, Thunder Wave, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.
As I started with comparing Crobat to Aerodacytl I'll start off with a comparison here as well. A lot of people turn to Chansey/Blissey for their Special wall and therefore neglect Porygon2. But Porygon2 is a 2in1 Pokemon. It has 85/90/95 defenses! Combine that with Eviolite, easy recovery and only one weakness and you got yourself a pokemon that a lot of offensive pokemon cannot take down. For example Choice Band Scizor cannot win a 1on1 vs this duck unless he gets a crit.
Comparing it to Blissey/Chansey isnt that fair because Porygon2 is a wall on both sides: physical and special. On the special side off course Blissey and Chansey win because of their superior special defense and acces to more support moves: Wish, Stealth Rock, Aromatherapy. Porygon2 has it's own niche, it checks a lot of common threats. As long as your opponent's Pokemon doesnt have a STAB Fighting Attack at it's disposal then this duck probably wont get OHKOed meaning it can counter by t-waving, and then using recover by outspeeding the paralyzed opponent and can then hope to live the hit or get parahax.
Thunder Wave cripples most Pokemon that cannot OHKO Porygon2 and try to set up on it. Where as Boltbeam coverage and 105 SpA make sure that it isnt Tauntbait.
It's ability Trace is great, some examples:
- Heatran and Jolteon are easy switch-ins as they already couldnt do much to the duck and now their STAB is taken away.
- Opponent will think twice before letting out his Dragonite. I'm not joking when I say a multiscale Porygon2 is capable of sweeping some teams.
- Porygon2 doesnt like Toxic, but this changes when switching into a Gliscor.
- Sun teams better watch out for Chlorophyll Duck
- Porygon2 doesnt like Status, but if your opponent has a Celebi, Starmie, Roserade, Chansey or Blissey then your problem can be solved easily.
- Prankster Recover and T-Wave.
- Shadow Tag and Arena Trap users are doomed
- ...
One could consider running Analytic over Trace seeing as Porygon2 has low speed but I prefer Trace so it can fullfill it's Wall function better and because the set aims to T-Wave a lot of your opponent's Pokemon.
What sets it back is it's weakness to Status ailments. The duck doesnt like getting toxic'd, paralyzed and even a burn is not that fun. But that pretty much goes for all walls that dont have access to natural cure. Trace could give it some help when a natural cure, magic guard or poison heal pokemon is around but that's it.
Another flaw is that some pokemon can easily set up on it: namely Ferrothorn, Bronzong and Forretress. Tyranitar will not like getting paralyzed but will laugh at Porygon2's attacks due to his boosted Special Defense (altho Tyranitar cannot kill the duck quickly 1on1 either unless it runs Substitute/Focus Punch). Apart from T-Waving them (which is a start I admit that much) Porygon2 cannot do much to them and will have to switch out. Other entry hazard setters are less troublesome; Skarmory has trouble with Thunderbolt while Hippowdon doesnt like Ice Beam.
The Water/Ground Types also laugh at Porygon2 as he cant do anything while they Toxic/Burn him.
Either way Porygon2 isnt your Pokemon to win a stallwar as it succumbs easily to status moves and lacks the offensive skills to dispose of walls of their own. Porygon2 excels at killing your opponent's offensive Pokemon or rendering them useless. Pretty much all the Dragons are no match for Porygon2, Banded Scizor cannot KO it and some nasty attackers like Jolteon, the Genies, Starmie, Heatran,... cannot kill it. Porygon2 is a safe switch-in in a lot of cases and that makes it a strong Pokemon, worthy of being OU.
Despite some set backs Porygon 2 definitely deserves a mention in C Rank but I would qualify it as a B Rank for sure.
Summarize:
- Great defenses on both sides and only one weakness.
- Boltbeam coverage backed up by 105 SpA.
- Access to Recover
- Great abilities