Do you want to know how I would describe Greninja? It has very few viable ways of being, is really damn predictable, and completely inflexible.
Greninja @ Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump / Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Protect
This is Greninja's one set. Rock Slide simply takes out too much of your coverage to be worth it. Pyroar's primary purpose is to OHKO Aegislash, the first properly successful team made that immediately obvious in the report, Greninja can not OHKO Aegislash and can be OHKOed by Aegislash, it is the softest check to it imaginable. Protean does not let you avoid an attack, seriously, because of how predictable it is Protean just makes Greninja impossible to support defensively. No one is arguing that Pyroar is flexible, it is however more reliable, stronger, and has a clearly defined purpose which makes it useful on some teams (I can bold texts too O.O).
Wigglytuff is C Rank because it actually does something useful and manipulates your opponent into not wanting to use or lead with their Intimidate users, which allows Wigglytuff to support physical attackers. You literally give reasons for it to be C Rank O.o "Wiggly is is a one-off hat-trick used to hard-counter Intimidate and die to physical punishment". Pyroar and Greninja are C Rank because they have strategy, albeit gimmicky, but strategy nevertheless, on the other hand Greninja doesn't.
Feel free to compare Pokemon which are comparable, for instance Salamence and Hydreigon are comparable as they are specially attacking Dragon-types which often use Choice Scarf or Specs. Pyroar and Greninja aren't comparable because they preform different roles and are used on different types of teams. Viability rankings aren't about arguing "X should be this rank, because Y is in this rank." Yes, viability rankings are based on match-ups, how the Pokemon in question matches up against the format, something Greninja doesn't do all that well in, it is completely beaten by Rotom-W, Mega Kangaskhan, Ludicolo, and Gardevoir to name a few. inb4 you say some of those Pokemon beat Pyroar, that is irrelevant because Pyroar is supposed to be used to beat a few select Pokemon to support Mega Kangaskhan, not as a general attacker.
This whole thing is ridiculous if Greninja was going to move up it would have already.
Hydreigon should definitely move up to A. I also think Mega Gengar should move down to C rank as it should only be used for PerishTrap which isn't actually all that hard to beat and requires full team support.
1) Once again, you give Greninja very VERY little credit where credit is due. If it wants to use Rock Slide, it totally can with a Naive/Hasty nature. If it wants to use Extrasensory to break through Mega Venusaur, it totally can. If it wants Grass Knot, that's an option. It doesn't necessarily need Dark or Water moves as STAB options because it's technically got STAB on any dang move it can learn. Also, if Talonflame's gonna use Brave Bird, but I'm a Rock-type, that impending OHKO is now a 2HKO. If the same's gonna happen to Pyroar...it's pretty much gone. That's sort of the point I was making about Protean: You can *possibly* change your typing for both an offensive or a defensive advantage. I've had situations where I was gonna be hit by Shadow Ball, but because I was a Normal-type at the time, the move just whiffed for free. Also had times where Aegislash would use Flash Cannon, expecting me to use Ice Beam, but because I used Scald, it was not very effective. Pyroar doesn't get this advantage, even if it's relatively minor.
2) Pyroar has real, viable uses, so it's in C, even though it's hella frail and dies faster than Choice Band Mienshao spamming HJK. Fine. Wigglytuff is, once again, a highly predictable, totally inflexible, one-off hat-trick that got a ton of Ray Rizzo hype, then faded into obscurity again, but it's in C because it "has a set plan"? That's a lousy reason to put something in C rank. Without Intimidate, Wigglytuff is
useless. A
complete waste of space. Greninja's main plan is to simply be applied to whatever's missing on your team. It's coverage, and it's much more reliable than Wigglytuff is, but Greninja's a D? The whole thing doesn't even make sense when you put it in perspective.
3) "Salamence and Hydreigon are comparable as they are specially attacking Dragon-types which often use Choice Scarf or Specs."
Greninja and Pyroar are speedy special attackers that often use Life Orb or Focus Sash. So...huh...
Now are their targets the exact same? No, but neither are Salamence's and Hydreigon's. Since Hydreigon has ungodly damage, when using specs, it has a much wider option of OHKO targets, but you're comparing it to Salamence none-the-less.
Is the frame I'm using understandable enough to make a comparison with? Why on Earth isn't it? I mean, if you're not gonna compare a speedy special attacking pokemon that uses X items to another pokemon that can be described in a relatively similar fashion using the same items, then what do you compare it to? Floatzel?
Regardless, it seems like placements on this list are being tossed around on a whim. Especially since Mega Abomasnow is a freaking C rank too. It's somewhat laughable.