ok hi gonna make a post regarding mostly shitmons; this is all part of my plan to get c consolidated into one single rank
rises out of shitmon land:
-> B-
I think Mega Abomasnow is somewhat competent in the current metagame personally. This is primarily due to the Substitute + 3 Attacks set, which takes advantage of Mega Abomasnow's ability to easily force switches to set Substitute. Substitute is especially nice given how it eases prediction against targets like Incineroar and prevents Pokemon such as Aerodactyl, Choice Scarf Passimian, and Delphox from revenge killing Mega Abomasnow as easily. Don't get me wrong here--this thing is still mostly hot trash, and Substitute can be a bit detrimental at times given it contributes to Mega Abomasnow getting chipped down even further. However, I do think the "discovery" of this set is enough to move Mega Abomasnow up.
wow this rank is filled with garbage here are all the things I want unranked and why:
Torterra is just not worth using from my experience. Offensive sets aren't great in the current metagame with how prominent Weezing is, and defensive sets just don't check much outside of Rotom and Heliolisk kind of. The main problem with bulkier sets though is how common Spikes and Toxic Spikes are; they just struggle to handle what they're meant to defensively. I could see an argument for keeping this guy at the bottom of a theoretical single C rank because in matches where the opponent lacks Weezing Torterra can put in work with offensive sets; however, I'm not entirely too sure how valuable this niche really is.
Hariyama and Hitmonlee I covered earlier; they both don't wallbreak well in a metagame filled with bulky Poison-types and viable Psychic- and Flying-types, and Hariyama's defensive traits aren't really that impressive at the end of the day.
Masquerain I also already addressed; dual screens is a better archetype than Sticky Web, and that archetype as a whole just isn't used anywhere. This niche is irrelevant.
Typhlosion is on paper cool paired with Pursuit from Sneasel or Aerodactyl and considering how Blastoise builds don't get to rely on something like a Vaporeon or a Slowking. The problem is you then realize that this thing's whole shtick is Eruption spam, which makes it really easy to exploit with say, Aerodactyl and entry hazards. There's also just a lot of other shit like Calm Mind Delphox and Choice Scarf Passimian that exploit this. If I want a fast special attacking wallbreaker, then I'd rather go with Heliolisk or even Choice Specs Delphox.
Gastrodon is painfully awkward to fit on teams and doesn't really contribute anything unique to a team other than being a Rotom stop. It really just faces too much competition I feel for it to ever be worth using.
I have no idea about this one help:
Sawk is weird because it can actually deal with most of the metagame trends that harm Hitmonlee and Hariyama thanks to its coverage moves and ability Mold Breaker. I just really don't know if there's a reason to use this over Pangoro and Medicham other than its speed, which isn't even a huge boon given those two have priority. Z-Move lure sets can still be cool I guess? I really don't have a set opinion here. From my experiences using Sawk, I would almost always prefer to have just built with Passimian as my Fighting-type instead lol..
ok gonna give some thoughts on not shitmons
rises:
-> A+
We just voted on it, but I'm gonna try my luck one more time. Garbodor is easily one of the most metagame-defining Pokemon currently given its ability to not only set (Toxic) Spikes but also absorb them too. It's phenomenal at pressuring common forms of entry hazard removal with its offensive sets and is a pain to remove hazards against because of Explosion. I mean yeah, not really anything has changed; I view this as simply an underrated Pokemon VR-wise.
-> A-
Gonna agree with this but for some other reasons. Levitate + Defog is obviously great, but I think offensive variants are really what push Rotom into A- currently. Z-Thunder is a really nice Incineroar lure, while Choice Specs is a much better set too with the banning of Vileplume. The prominence of Spikes really benefits Rotom too because most of what switches into it gets chipped really badly by Spikes and proper prediction from the Rotom player (ie Volt Switch versus Shadow Ball).
drops:
-> A
This Pokemon has been overrated for at least half of a year. Incineroar is the best Pokemon in the tier and completely shuts Sneasel down. Sure, Incineroar isn't particularly hard to chip away at, but Sneasel just can't make great headway against it. There's also been the rise of more fast Pokemon that threaten to revenge kill Sneasel in Aerodactyl and Choice Scarf Togedemaru; Blastoise is more common, and although it isn't a great check, it still comes in for free once or twice and can spin or threaten a Scald burn. Hell, even Pangoro being around is kind of annoying because of priority Bullet Punch. There just really isn't a lot going in Sneasel's favor to fight back against these clear trends against it.
-> A
Also been overrated for like half a year.. Xatu theoretically is great in a metagame where entry hazards play such a frontal role, but then you realize Xatu gets mauled by offensive Garbodor variants and still hates switching into bulkier variants of that as well as Weezing given Gunk Shot and Sludge Bomb just suck to switch into because of the poison chance. We're also seeing Rhydon take a much more prominent role as the top Stealth Rock setter (and Druddigon is much more common). Steelix dropping Curse lately for Toxic/Protect is helpful, but I think that's more proof of how Xatu's spot has fallen.
ok i think that is all for now