OU The OU Viability Ranking thread

[Tripod]

Look at Kyurem-B, horrible physical movepool, deadly wall breaker, Bullet Punch Weakness, SR weakness, Ice Type is useless because it has to use its special movepool, it could have gave it Ice Punch! Freeze Shock sucks, the best you can do is a SubShock set but it takes two turns not the end of the turn.

Lati@s has a pursuit weakness has its STAB with an immunity. Has to rely on Hidden Power which is patheticely weak in rain and has a pseudo-weakness to Scizor due to Pursuit too.

Now we have Hydreigon. It is very similiar to the other two. It has higher speed and better movepool than Kyurem-B, isn't completely predictable, has the same weakness mach punch like Kyurem-B and has much better typing. It even has the same ability as Lati@s! These two are in A-Rank but not Hydreigon? Yes, the dark sub typing might seem worse but you have to look at the few advantages. Psychic immunity which helps double switch into the Fighting coverage to Gengar safely and resitance to pursuit. It even lets it check Reuniclus when it hasn't set up TR with Draco Meteor. Seriously, it even gets U-Turn to scout and can even provide support. I think everyone has proven there point. Hydreigon for A-Rank. Terrakion is S-Rank and is revenged by Breloom and Scizor as that nasty addition. Lati@s generally won't use Hidden Power [Fire] because once its revealed you win the speed tie with opposing Lati@s and Gengar.

 

[Gary]

Salamence is an amazing Cleaner with Scarf+Moxie and you can't compare Tailwind to something like Dragon Dance another serious problem is that Hydreigon either has to use an 80 BP STAB wich is way to weak against neutral targets to sweep or will cut its power in half meaning it will likely have to switch out. I don't know if you have actually played with Hydreigon but as i said its alot better on Paper than it plays out in an actual match against a good opponent as it requires serious prediction skills.

Yes, I have played with Hydreigon, many of times, and I must say, that it actually looks better in battle then on paper. With the proper support, this thing is an absolute monster. A Pokemon does NOT have to be self sufficient in order to be A-Rank, which is kind of what you're getting at. Yes Hydreigon isn't the fastest Pokemon around, but once the opponents star revenge killer is paralyzed or a Tailwind is up, it's pretty much GG. Scizor is the #1 used Pokemon in OU, and for good reason because of his STAB Bullet Punch and sheer power, however he's very slow, and can't really switch into fast threats unless provided paralysis support, thus making BP his only reliable option until the opponent is crippled. Also, why does an A-Rank Pokemon have to have a set up move? Sure Salamence's gets Dragon Dance and Moxie, but Hydreigon can still wreck serious havoc without wasting a turn to set up. As many have said, HE'S A WALLBREAKER, NOT A SWEEPER. Also, something that I've found with Hydreigon is that you don't really have to worry about mis predicting. If you use Draco Meteor on the on coming Forretress switch, you can still KO it with Fire Blast even after the -2 drop. Ferrothorn is also threatened with Superpower and Fire Blast, while Jirachi has to watch for the possible EQ. If you mis predict and Outrage with Salamence on a Skarmory or Forretress switch, prepare to be hazard set up fodder.

Also, who says that you HAVE to run Dark Pulse? Most actually wouldn't. Everything else that Hydreigon has is going to hurt Psychic and Ghost types, so there isn't really a need. Also, if you have a Scizor or Tyranitar on your team then there's also another reason not to worry about Psychics. Besides, what's a Psychic gonna do to Hydreigon? Threaten it with Psychic? Nah I don't think so. Dark Pulse is pretty much ONLY used so Max SpD Jellicent and Celebi can't Recover stall him, however like mentioned earlier they are handled quite easily by Tyranitar and the latter Scizor. Hydreigon breaks walls with ease, threatens pretty much the entire meta game, and causes switches like no other. I still see Hydreigon being a perfect A-Rank candidate.

 

[False Sense]

Also, something that I've found with Hydreigon is that you don't really have to worry about mis predicting.

I felt like this is something very much worth noting. Assuming we're talking about the mixed set here, one of Hydreigon's best assets is it's ability to still be threatening even after a power drop. Fire Blast is still does huge damage to all those 4x weak pokemon out there after a Draco Meteor, sometimes OHKOing. And even then, it has Superpower to hit things hard on the physical side, which often comes as a nasty surprise to Tyranitars and the like. It's capable of doing massive damage even while weakened, and this allows it to rip opening into teams that it's teammates can take advantage of. It's insane wallbreaking capabilities are just so hard to match up to, and I think the fact that it's perhaps the greatest wallbreaker in OU makes it worthy of A-Rank.

 

[Eleman]

Hydreigon's greatest advantage over many of the other dragons out there is being able to go mixed and hit anything hard with its great attacking stats. I would put it in A-Rank mostly because of its great resistances, move pool, stats, and unpredictability. Remember, Hydreigon has so many options that it is crucial to predict and find out which set it is running because there is not a single poke out there that can take on all of its sets at once.

 

[Kidogo]

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. 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.

This is absolutely hydreigon imo. Basically, if this thing had 15 higher speed (or even 4 or 5), it would probably be banned or up for suspecting. However, its speed is subpar, so it cannot effortlessly sweep teams...which is why it's not S tier. However, with sufficient support it can decimate unprepared teams (paralysis spreading is one effective strategy, after which LO hydreigon can p much 6-0 most OU teams). In addition, it performs well even without a lot of team support, coming in and basically scoring a KO each time. Nice typing is just a bonus. A rank imo.

EDIT:
I'm hesitant on jelli for A-tier. It's the best defensive spinblocker, agreed. But it basically doesn't work outside of full stall since it kinda kills momentum, and pursuit weak is just eh. High B imo.

I'm also pretty sure luke has been discussed before (wow 68 pages...) but eh, imo B-tier. It has a really hard time setting up, and imo only works fully on HO teams that specialize in granting that turn for set-up, with the hazards it needs being provided by deo-d...who just got banned. Very potent, but needs too much team support imo for A-tier.

 

[Tressed]

This is absolutely hydreigon imo. Basically, if this thing had 15 higher speed (or even 4 or 5), it would probably be banned or up for suspecting.

hah, if Hydreigon had 15 higher base speed, Latios would drop off the face of the earth. Hydreigon would outclass it for Choice sets, all out attacker, access to U-turn, not Pursuit weak, etc. Latias would still see use for its bulk, but Latios would have no niche whatsoever.
Anyways, its unlikely that Game Freak will boost Hydreigon's speed in Gen VI, so this is pointless up until here. I'll give my opinions on some recent discussion.
Regarding Hydreigon, its really good at what it does, which is wallbreak. Other options, not so much. I find that Choiced sets are better done by Latios, what with the better speed, while bulky sets are generally Kyurem(B)'s territory. Unless you have a really good reason to use Hydreigon instead, its best left to those I mentioned. Even then, Hydreigon is hardly the only Pokemon that can wallbreak. MixMence and Kyurem-B are both exceptionally good wallbreakers, and OU is such a hostile environment towards stall that wallbreaking might not even be worth the teamslot sometimes. I'm not sure what tier Hydreigon should be, honestly, so I'll just leave this here for you guys to decide on.
Jellicent is an A-Tier poke, imo. The typing and bulk is nearly perfect for countering all those Water STABs flying about, it counters Keldeo near perfectly, and its the only spinblocker with reliable recovery, so it can spinblock again and again, making it the choice for stall teams. Its typing gives it awesome synergy with many Pokemon, too.
Lucario, I think, is fine in B-Tier. It can definitely sweep, without a doubt, not to mention what happens when you slap a Choice Band on it (<-Get on that, its good.) However, its just too frail to send into battle without a serious plan, and its Speed generally leaves it unable to force things out by itself. Its effective, but not so much that you have to prepare for it specifically.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

I've made a case for crobat, I think it's a solid C rank. Of course, nobody's even mentioned it for three pages, so maybe I could be wrong. A fighting resist is really good, though, and coupled with speed and a usable attack I think it deserves at least a mention on the list.

If not, somebody just tell me it's completely useless and I'll never mention it again, but it's not even been talked about once...

 

[Lavos]

i'm kind of hesitant on hydreigon for a-rank. i'm really not a fan of how a-rank is worded, since it basically encompasses anything with high offensive stats and a decent movepool but doesn't take into account how hard it is to switch in, speed tiers, typing, etc., just raw offensive power. if you look at the description for b-rank, it specifically states "Reserved for Pokemon who cannot sweep through or wall significant portions of the metagame, but can properly fulfill a given offensive/defensive niche", which in my mind applies pretty directly to stuff like hydreigon. if you look at the wording of "cannot sweep through...the metagame", it implies that a b-rank pokemon is something that has certain aspects that hinder it from sweeping effectively, despite its potential offensive prowess. that aspect in particular for hydreigon is its mediocre base 98 speed, which leaves it open to being outsped and revenge killed by more than half the ou metagame, meaning it "cannot sweep through" said metagame. while there's no doubt that hydreigon can ohko a large majority of the ou metagame, it has real trouble switching in because of some crippling fighting, bug, and dragon weaknesses, plus it's too slow to end up doing real damage over time. high b-rank i think.

 

[Deluks917]

Hydreigon is hard walled by jirachi in the rain. This si not exactly an uncommon pokemon. So it is not a great wall breaker. And its too slow to sweep.

 

[False Sense]

Hydreigon is hard walled by jirachi in the rain. This si not exactly an uncommon pokemon. So it is not a great wall breaker. And its too slow to sweep.

...You're saying that because it can't get past ONE pokemon, it's not a good wall breaker? I'd disagree with that...

Oh, and Earthquake says hi.

 

[Lavos]

...You're saying that because it can't get past ONE pokemon, it's not a good wall breaker? I'd disagree with that...

Oh, and Earthquake says hi.

i don't think that's what he's saying at all, he's making the point that extremely common stuff can wall hydreigon all day unless you're running a particular niche set, and then if you are running something like eq, that means you lack a different move now, which in turn opens you up to being walled by more stuff. besides, he does mention speed, which is the crux of everyone's argument against hydreigon. sure, it may be a good wallbreaker in some instances, but the large majority of teams in this day and age don't have any dedicated walls, or just one or two at most, because it's such a fast-paced sort of metagame. maybe hydreigon can break down a rain stall team (and that's all fine and well), but if it fares horribly against sand offense etc., then in my mind it's not worth using.

 

[Schpoonman]

Jirachi does NOT wall Hydreigon, not even close. Earth Power and Earthquake 2HKO SpDef Jirachi in the rain, and Fire Blast 2HKOs out of the rain.

EDIT: Physically Defensive Chansey walls mixed Hydreigon. That's it. Everything else is 2HKOd at worst before you pop off a Draco and drop your Special Attack, and then sometimes after.

 

[False Sense]

i don't think that's what he's saying at all, he's making the point that extremely common stuff can wall hydreigon all day unless you're running a particular niche set, and then if you are running something like eq, that means you lack a different move now, which in turn opens you up to being walled by more stuff. besides, he does mention speed, which is the crux of everyone's argument against hydreigon. sure, it may be a good wallbreaker in some instances, but the large majority of teams in this day and age don't have any dedicated walls, or just one or two at most, because it's such a fast-paced sort of metagame. maybe hydreigon can break down a rain stall team (and that's all fine and well), but if it fares horribly against sand offense etc., then in my mind it's not worth using.

Well, Hydreigon doesn't actually need to sacrifice coverage to use Earthquake; a mixed set of Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Superpower and Earthquake is quite effective. Also, against offense, while it isn't as easy to get in due to the faster pace (although for the record, Hydreigon's not SLOW, it just falls short), once it gets in safely it can easily kill something due to the more frail nature of offense. And if it's Sand Offense, then not everything is going to be outspeeding Hydreigon (Tyranitar), giving it a chance to come in and wreck.

 

[Gary]

i don't think that's what he's saying at all, he's making the point that extremely common stuff can wall hydreigon all day unless you're running a particular niche set, and then if you are running something like eq, that means you lack a different move now, which in turn opens you up to being walled by more stuff. besides, he does mention speed, which is the crux of everyone's argument against hydreigon. sure, it may be a good wallbreaker in some instances, but the large majority of teams in this day and age don't have any dedicated walls, or just one or two at most[, because it's such a fast-paced sort of metagame. maybe hydreigon can break down a rain stall team (and that's all fine and well), but if it fares horribly against sand offense etc., then in my mind it's not worth using.

I feel like some of the arguments going against Hydreigon being A-Rank are becoming a little ridiculous now, almost redundant. I will admit, I am biased about Hydreigon because of how much I've used him, but since I've used him so much I've come to learn that these "flaws" that people say Hydreigon has, look worse on paper then in battle. I've also learned a lot about Hydreigon from using him probably +50 times, so don't accuse me of just pulling stuff out of my ass and or Theorymoning. Anyways, on to my point.

First off, 97 speed is not slow. Even for the fast paced offensive meta game BW2 OU has become, 98 speed is not bad in the slightest. Sure you wont see Hydreigon revenge killing or sweeping, but again and again people seem to ignore the fact that he's not a sweeper. He's a wall breaker, hit and runner, and late game cleaner. With the proper support however he can be an early game sweeper. Which brings me to my next point, again, why are people making it sound like to be A-Rank, a Pokemon pretty much has to be mostly self reliant? Don't tell me Salamence, Dragonite, Latios, or Kyurem-B are self reliant, because they aren't in the slightest. They all require some kind of support to make them function, while Pokemon in the S-Tier need very little to succeed. Are people forgetting that we're trying to put Hydreigon in A-Rank and not S-Rank? It seems like some of the arguments talking about how Hydreigon isn't a successful wall breaker because he can't break everything, just blows my mind. Yeah sure, because Latios can sure as hell break through Blissey and Jirachi. Every single Pokemon in the A-Tier is pretty much hard walled by something, and to be honest, it's almost a staple on most Hydreigon Mixed sets to run EQ. So, how is Jirachi still walling Hydreigon? Chansey is a bitch, so don't even include that pink blob of shit in one of the walls that he can't break.

Now about Lavos' argument, you do make good points. However, how is Hydreigon bad against more offensive teams? Oh wait, don't tell me, it's TOO slow. Okay, but if Hydreigon gets a free switch into something, OR paralysis support, Hydreigon takes a huge dump on the entire team. His typing holds him back, we all know that, however, nothing is safe from his moves. Hyper Offensive teams have no way of properly handling this thing defensively, and are pretty much always fearful of opening up the door for Hydreigon to walk right in. A Pokemon does not have to be fast to be A-Tier, it has to be versatile, dangerous, hard to handle properly, and hard to counter or check, and most of all, require SOME support. The support that Hydreigon needs isn't asking for much. He doesn't need to set up, nor does he need to make sure Multiscale is intact or all form of hazards are off the field, which in my opinion are a lot harder to handle then a little paralysis support.

Hydreigon is hard walled by jirachi in the rain. This si not exactly an uncommon pokemon. So it is not a great wall breaker. And its too slow to sweep.

For the 100th time, it's not a sweeper. It's not hard walled by Jirachi. We already established that. And like I mentioned earlier, how is a Pokemon not a good wall breaker because it can't properly get around 1 Pokemon. Which ironically, it can.

I hope this cleared up anything. If anybody has any concerns, please share.

 

[Tripod]

Hydreigon is hard walled by jirachi in the rain. This is not exactly an uncommon pokemon. So it is not a great wall breaker. And its too slow to sweep.

vs.

4 Atk Life Orb Hydreigon Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Jirachi: 195-231 (48.26 - 57.17%) -- 44.92% chance to 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 224+ SpD Jirachi: 203-239 (50.24 - 59.15%) -- 76.56% chance to 2HKO


I think you are mistaken. Jirachi does not hard wall Hydreigon. Hydreigon has a Earth Power, Earthquake, and finally it is not a sweeper! Just because it is walled by only one pokemon which doesn't wall it anyways doesn't mean it is not a good wallbreaker. Jirachi is 2HKOed so first visit the damage calculator before you say something is 2HKOed or hard walled. Fire Blast 2HKOes when it runs Specs.

Also 98 Base Speed isn't slow. Yes, it is an awkward speed which leaves it outpaced by 100s but it outspeeds Kyurem-B which is getting more common, Gliscor which is more common in B2W2 thanks to Roost + Poison Heal viable and finally Lucario is outsped before using CC. And for the tenth-millionth of the last decade of Neptune's orbit, it is not a sweeper!!

Just like Gary2346 said,"I feel like some of the arguments going against Hydreigon being A-Rank are becoming a little ridiculous now, almost redundant" is what I also feel about the people recently posting. This is really getting annoying how many are writing stuff like: Hydreigon shouldn't be A-Rank because it has a weird design or Hydreigon shouldn't be A-Rank because it is walled by Wailord which is in NU. People are stalling time right now (except you Lavos Spawn cuz your boss) so Hydreigon's decision to move up a rank is delayed or they just want to increase the number of posts on their profile or whatever.

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon who can sweep or wall significant portions of the metagame, but require some support or have some flaws that prevents them from doing this consistently. 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.

In the past posts, people have been forgetting the definition of A-Rank.

 

[alexwolf]

There is no doubt that Hydreigon is one of the best, if not the best, Pokemon in its role, which is a wallbreaker. The thing is, is this role important enough to make even the best Pokemon of this role A rank? If you think that the role of a wallbreaker is imporant in the current meta then Hydreigon is an easy A rank, while if you don't it fits quite easily to the B rank.

I am really split tbh... I could see good arguments for both ranks, but a may slightly lean towards A rank because with the banning of Deo-D defensive play gained a bit of breathing room, and thus encouraging the use of wallbreakers to combat defensive teams.

 

[False Sense]

There is no doubt that Hydreigon is one of the best, if not the best, Pokemon in its role, which is a wallbreaker. The thing is, is this role important enough to make even the best Pokemon of this role A rank? If you think that the role of a wallbreaker is imporant in the current meta then Hydreigon is an easy A rank, while if you don't it fits quite easily to the B rank.

I am really split tbh... I could see good arguments for both ranks, but a may slightly lean towards A rank because with the banning of Deo-D defensive play gained a bit of breathing room, and thus encouraging the use of wallbreakers to combat defensive teams.

Something I noticed is that a lot of people seem to have this idea that Wallbreakers are only useful for just that; breaking walls. They are actually quite effective outside of that role, since their sheer power lets them easily destroy offensive threats and puts a lot of pressure against teams. Against more offensive teams, once Hydreigon gets in on something it threatens, it can easily demolish anything on the team due to the frail nature of offense. This means teams like that often have to sack something just to get their revenge killer (or reliable faster threat that can take out Hydreigon) in safely. Now, some people are saying that Hydreigon is useless against offense because of how slow it is. Hydreigon is not slow. It merely has unfortunate speed that leaves it out sped by some of the more prominent threats of OU. This does not mean that every offense team consists of nothing slower than base 100 speed, nor does it mean that every member of those teams can dispatch Hydreigon.

In short, Hydreigon can do massive damage to just about any team, and this sheer destructive potential, I think, makes him worthy of A-Rank.


P.S.: I just wanted to mention this, but it's A-RANK. Not Tier, RANK. This is really just a nitpick on my part, but I've been bugged by how many people keep saying A-Tier and S-Tier. It's RANK, it's different from tier.

 

[Dark Fallen Angel]

I agree with Hydreigon being A-Rank. Nothing is safe from its attacks. The only thing that comes close to a counter is Chansey, but Chansey is a rare Pokémon to be used, and is generally not that useful, especially considering that Keldeo is omnipresent.

That said, Hydreigon can opt to run Earthquake or Dark Pulse to get past its would-be counters and checks under certain conditions, such as Jirachi under rain (Earthquake), Specially defensive Jellicent if Stealth Rock is not present (Dark Pulse), Specially defensive Celebi under rain if Stealth Rock is not present (Dark Pulse). This means that Hydreigon is technically uncounterable and to scout its entire set is possible, but until you know what it is running, you have lost one or two Pokémon. Hydreigon is not outclassed by Latios because while the latter may seem to be stronger, Hydreigon is actually stronger since it can run a nature that does not augment Speed without losing the jump on relevant Pokémon. While it is certainly a shame that it is easily revenge killed, none of its revenge killers can switch on Hydreigon. That means that once Hydreigon comes safely, it is almost certain to get a kill. This thing has no safe switch-ins at all. It is A-Rank by sure, for the reasons said above by me and other users.

 

[RaijueR]

Hydreigon has been stuck in B-Rank for some time now when really it should not deserve that ranking simply cause Hydreigon has the ability to OHKO and 2HKO the entire OU metagame plus with the myraid of options or roles Hydreigon has, it is very unpridictable and it will take some sacrificing to figure out what set Hydreigon is actually running and by the time you do figure out the set you are gurantee to lose a team member or your team member had to take a possibly unesscary heavy hit from Hydreigon. Also some of the arguements saying that Hydriegon is incapable of sweeping are totally making Hydreigons role in the metagame diffrent. Hydreigon is not meant to sweep, he is meant to wallbreak and hit anything hard with his amazing coverage moves, but even then that does not mean he can't sweep as he can clean up teams that the remaining pokemon cannot outspeed or wall.

oh and Hydreigon has both Thunder Wave+ Tailwind so the whole "too slow" arguement is irrelevant as Tailwind or even Thunder Wave + three attacks is not a bad idea for Hydriegon. If Tornadus can do a Tailwind + Three Attacks set why not Hydreigon?

 

[kd24]

isn't tornadus also b-tier ..____..

look at the b-rankings compared to the a-rankings and honestly tell me if hydregion is that good. it just isn't. some teams, hydregion can kick ass, but its just not anywhere near the level of salamence or something similar. theres mons in b-rank like volcarona who i could legitimately not justify sitting there while hydregion moves up.

i could make an argument for any mon in b rank to be moved up to a, so nothing you said really changed my opinion on hydregion,

 

[PK Gaming]

Sorry but, I'm not going to insult Hydreigon or its dedicated users by placing it in a tier that's not right for it. Believe me, I've mulled the idea over and over and over again...the bottomline is that Hydreigon isn't A-tier material. There's been some good arguments on the pro-A side, but I haven't had anyone convince me that Hydreigon's flaws aren't enough to keep it from A. If it were truly an A-tier Pokemon, it would be much, more common in tournaments, but it simply isn't used by the majority of players(its too risky, and there are faster, less risky alternatives). A-tier is a fairly exclusive tier(Remember pokemon like the Lati-twins and Garchomp are A-tier!!!), so its not like there's Hydreigon is mediocre or anything. It just isn't at the A-tier level, and it will probably never reach it in this current metagame.

 

[Sam]

I don't think it's necessarily fair to quantify something just by how much it's used in tournaments. Sure if something appears in them it's good, but something that's good won't always appear, either. That being said, it isn't really fair to compare Hydreigon to the other dragons. Latias is a offensive pivot/late-game sweeper. Latios is a choice user. Garchomp is a choice user/physical sweeper. They are all fantastic Pokemon. They fill necessary roles on teams. What they are not, however, are wallbreakers. I like to think of Hydreigon as a sort of offensive glue. Is your team stopped by a specific threat? Hydreigon will take care of it.

You're right in saying that Hydreigon is risky. However, I don't think it's risky because of it's speed. It's risky because it is very prediction-based. However, that certainly does not mitigate it's potential or it's viability. 98 base speed is, admittedly, subpar. It's not terrible, but it's nothing to write home about either. This would be a deal breaker if Hydreigon were a sweeper. But it isn't. Speed is important, but it really isn't the end of the world. This is because Hydreigon's playstyle forces switches, and speed most certainly does not matter on a switch.

The key then, in forcing switches, is to be able to come in. Let's not forget Hydreigon's 92/90/90 defenses, which are pretty good for an offensive pokemon. It's typing also gives it numerous resistances that are pretty common. It's not by any means easy to get in, but a good player should have no problem getting Hydreigon in safely.

Once Hydreigon is in, it's real strength is in it's versatility. It has a somewhat standard moveset of Draco Meteor / Fire Blast / Superpower, but that last move can almost be tailor made for your team. If you have trouble with Jirachi, Earthquake can be used. If you're concerned about it's longevity you can use Roost. Dark Pulse can take out Jellicent if you need to. And this is all on top of the coverage provided by the three moves above.Hell, Tailwind/T-Wave can even go in the last slot if that fits your team well.

125 special attack is probably about at standard for a good special attacker, maybe a little bit higher. 105 attack is certainly a bit low, but it's supplemental to it's special attack and it does have the physical movepool to make use of it. As said before, it's defenses are also pretty damn good for what it does, and makes it much easier to send it in.

With it's 98 speed though brings up how susceptible Hydreigon is to revenge killing. And this is true. However, remember what I said about prediction? Whenever something comes in to revenge Hydreigon, it's pretty obvious what it's going to do. Keldeo will spam Secret Sword, Breloom will Mach Punch, Mamoswine will Ice Shard, etc. So while it's certainly not easy to predict moves and switches, the fact that Hydreigon never really has a 'lose condition' (aka it's not Pursuit bait) makes revenge killing it a bit harder. Similarly with prediction, even if you mispredict with Hydreigon, it's still going to hit very hard. It has huge offensive prowess and just the right tools to back it up and really make itself so beneficial to many team styles, hence my assertion that Hydreigon is in fact A-rank.

tl;dr Hydreigon has what it needs and does it really, really well.

EDIT: Oh and Crobat for C? I wrote about it a while back and it got ignored for the most part. I said B then but now I think C.

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Putting the argument against A-rank hydreigon to rest in my opinon: it's the best wallbreaker in the game, speaking of it as anything else is silly. That's its greatest strength, but also its greatest problem. It's the best at what it does, but what it does really isn't worth an A-rank: wallbreakers are just not all that necessary due to, well, the lack of walls. A rank is, as PK said, really special, B rank is still good. Hydreigon has everything it deserves right now.

 

[Kaos]

Why the hell is Ninjask D-Rank? BP teams with Ninjask have, in the right hands, been able to do very well on the ladder throughout this entire Gen. The metagame can shift around all it wants, but pure Baton Pass teams with Ninjask have remained consistently effective no matter what. At least make him C.

 

[Soul Fly]

Why the hell is Ninjask D-Rank? BP teams with Ninjask have, in the right hands, been able to do very well on the ladder throughout this entire Gen. The metagame can shift around all it wants, but pure Baton Pass teams with Ninjask have remained consistently effective no matter what. At least make him C.

That defines D rank completely.
It's only niche is baton passing.

on it's own it's shit.