Resource 1v1 Scarlet and Violet Viability Rankings

[lost heros]

Umbreon to C minimum please.

Set

Umbreon @ Kee Berry
Ability: Synchronize
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Baby-Doll Eyes
- Snarl
- Foul Play
- Moonlight

Haven't bothered to actually make a spread yet, but Umbreon continues to do what Umbreon does best as a mixed wall against neutral hitters.
I've opted for Baby-Doll eyes over Charm this gen for more immediate bulk against physical attackers, and I'm relying more on Foul Play to deal with Swords Dance users, but over all it works fine.

I know Foul Play and attack mitigation seem counter-intuitive together but just trust me it works. Umbreon's neutral damage will always be higher than your opponent's base damage output so it's fine.

Snarl is snarl and moonlight is moonlight

Counters are fairly standard; strong Fairy and Fighting types, subseeders, most trick users, certain Taunt users blah blah blah. I'm nomming to C tier here guys

Relevant calcs

Calcs

Gouging
-1 252+ Atk Protosynthesis Gouging Fire Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 157-186 (39.8 - 47.2%) - First hit before Kee pops. You win in PP vs DDance

Hoopa-U
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-Unbound Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 192-228 (48.7 - 57.8%) -- First hit before Kee pops
-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Hoopa-Unbound Drain Punch vs. +1 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 130-154 (32.9 - 39%) -- kee's up moonlight until you wanna hit more BDE

Regidrago
252 SpA Dragon's Maw Regidrago Dragon Energy (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon: 184-217 (46.7 - 55%)
Just predict ez

Arch

+1 252+ SpA Archaludon Electro Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon: 136-161 (34.5 - 40.8%)
252+ SpA Archaludon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon: 136-162 (34.5 - 41.1%)
Just don't hit the Bpress set

Skeledirge
252+ SpA Skeledirge Blast Burn vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Umbreon: 144-169 (36.5 - 42.8%)
Not happening

 

[ULTRAV01D]

I think Iron Hands belongs in at least A- tier (maybe A or A+ though)

Hands is still the same as it’s been at the beginning of the generation but I believe that it has kept up with the power creep. I personally think it is the best electric type in the tier (including raging bolt) purely because of its sheer bulk and power. Hands will nearly never be OHKOd by most viable mons and can do ridiculous damage with booster energy. The only downside is that it’s slow but Hands is bulky enough to where that doesn’t matter as much.

 

[recti]

I think Iron Hands belongs in at least A- tier (maybe A or A+ though)

Hands is still the same as it’s been at the beginning of the generation but I believe that it has kept up with the power creep. I personally think it is the best electric type in the tier (including raging bolt) purely because of its sheer bulk and power. Hands will nearly never be OHKOd by most viable mons and can do ridiculous damage with booster energy. The only downside is that it’s slow but Hands is bulky enough to where that doesn’t matter as much.

custap

 

[ULTRAV01D]

custap

Hands doesn’t need Custap

 

[crucify]

quick post with suggestions before swiss
-> S, this mon is op, thinking about all the sets it can use its getting harder to justify not using it on every team tbh
-> S-, this mon is op, if it weren't for the dragons this mon should be quickbanned. offensive ooga booga'ing stuff with its typing makes leech and counter less expected, which are both powerful sets.
-> A+, this mon is better than everything in A and A-. notable over hearthflame for being able to run stall sets better (both leech and charm), which in turn makes offensive sets less expected, and for being not randomly uncomfortable vs prim
-> A/A-, the theme of this post is raising ambigious mons because the gen favors them. band and av are main sets and both really good, leech ok, specs meh. basically only reason against A is gouging fire but should raise.
-> A-, does registeel things, shoulda raised earlier. beats most non fire/ground things, notable beating archaludon + fairies + other steels. specifically notable over corv for archaludon + primarina.
-> B, unfortunately annoying right now with occa for gouging/babiri for meta/archaludon safety. doing well vs top tiers does well in this gen, but ogerpons hurt it.
-> C+/B-, breh these are not worse than okidogi, both arguably the same/better than rhyp

 

[armaldlothearmaldo]

quick post with suggestions before swiss
-> S, this mon is op, thinking about all the sets it can use its getting harder to justify not using it on every team tbh
-> S-, this mon is op, if it weren't for the dragons this mon should be quickbanned. offensive ooga booga'ing stuff with its typing makes leech and counter less expected, which are both powerful sets.
-> A+, this mon is better than everything in A and A-. notable over hearthflame for being able to run stall sets better (both leech and charm), which in turn makes offensive sets less expected, and for being not randomly uncomfortable vs prim
-> A/A-, the theme of this post is raising ambigious mons because the gen favors them. band and av are main sets and both really good, leech ok, specs meh. basically only reason against A is gouging fire but should raise.
-> A-, does registeel things, shoulda raised earlier. beats most non fire/ground things, notable beating archaludon + fairies + other steels. specifically notable over corv for archaludon + primarina.
-> B, unfortunately annoying right now with occa for gouging/babiri for meta/archaludon safety. doing well vs top tiers does well in this gen, but ogerpons hurt it.
-> C+/B-, breh these are not worse than okidogi, both arguably the same/better than rhyp

I'd like to second Archaludon for S. It's the best mon in the tier right now and has far greater teching options than Gouging Fire. Bulky sets, both AV and bulky power herb, are criminally underexplored and the opportunity cost of running them is very low. Breaking swipe beats Donphan without enormous invest, ID+Press beats Metagross and Ursaluna with the right evs, metal sound beats Iron Crown etc. I've been starting to build seriously, and it's the easiest mon in the tier to build around by far.

Calcs

-1 252+ Atk Choice Band Donphan Bulldoze vs. 224 HP / 28 Def Archaludon: 158-188 (41.9 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Guts Ursaluna Earthquake vs. +2 252 HP / 72+ Def Archaludon: 194-230 (50.5 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Guts Ursaluna Earthquake vs. +4 252 HP / 72+ Def Archaludon: 132-156 (34.3 - 40.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+4 72+ Def Archaludon Body Press vs. 248 HP / 4 Def Ursaluna: 480-566 (103.6 - 122.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
If it's Headlong Rush, ID once and then press. This has more opportunity cost, but you beat two major answers to Archaludon.

+1 252 SpA Iron Crown Tachyon Cutter (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Archaludon: 166-196 (43.2 - 51%) -- approx. 4.3% chance to 2HKO
+1 232+ SpA Archaludon Electro Shot vs. -3 252 HP / 0 SpD Iron Crown: 527-621 (137.2 - 161.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[LemonLime78]

I think Iron Hands belongs in at least A- tier (maybe A or A+ though)

Hands is still the same as it’s been at the beginning of the generation but I believe that it has kept up with the power creep. I personally think it is the best electric type in the tier (including raging bolt) purely because of its sheer bulk and power. Hands will nearly never be OHKOd by most viable mons and can do ridiculous damage with booster energy. The only downside is that it’s slow but Hands is bulky enough to where that doesn’t matter as much.

Bit late, but would like to second this. Along with the booster energy set mentioned, AV can tear through a lot of special attackers that otherwise check it. Along with being fairly strong in a vacuum, its av set easily checks some of the top meta threats (gouging, primarina, archaludon, certain hoopa sets). In the team builder, iron hands helps alleviate a lot of pressure from some of the strongest mons currently. Hence, I think that Iron Hands should rise to A-/A (B+ if nothing else).

 

[fruan]

please rank blastoise, its literally a better water type than manaphy right now.

the stoise

Blastoise @ Rindo Berry
Ability: Torrent
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 176 Def / 172 SpA / 160 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Cannon
- Ice Beam
- Substitute

As needed run the item you want between resist berry/life orb. You beat a bunch of weak grasses (including the cat), u beat gouging, etc...
Stoise - > C+ (surely its as good as iron moth - insane fraud mon)

case in point, better iron moth:

The Lazzle Dazzle

Salazzle (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Oblivious
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Fake Out
- Overheat
- Sludge Wave
- Protect / Nasty Plot / Encore

u beat fairies consistently, you beat sturdies, whats not to like... Salazzle to C+

Few notes: meta is cool but kinda dire. Every top pokemon having 1 billion sets that techs it counters is super painful. Oger water stocks going up imo, it just feels more consistent than fire (fire is still insanely broken and meta warping, how its still in the tier is wild to me). Raging bolt is also super fraud, horrendous dragon mu at preview, cant beat av metagross, unviable. Urshifus are also dire in 2024, dark is outclassed by hoopa as u don't lose to fairies, and water kind of exists but I never see it, probably for good reason.

 

[DreamPrince]

Nominating Cobalion to C+/B- rank

We've been discussing on Discord, and I was encouraged to post here. We believe Cobalion has a niche has a fast, tanky fighting type that can take on Pokemon like Meowscarda, PZ, Regidrago, Azumarill, Garchomp, Landorus-T, Corviknight, Metagross, Ursaluna, Registeel, Rillaboom and prior to ban, Archaludon while not outright losing to Fairy Types like Sylveon. Its main downsides are low special defense and Fairy neutrailty, making it a risky answer to Fairy types as a whole.

Here is the set:

IronPress Cobalion

Cobalion @ Air Balloon
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 88 HP / 4 Atk / 116 Def / 72 SpD / 228 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Heavy Slam
- Body Press
- Iron Defense
- Taunt

Don't want to write an essay, but the EVs let you outspeed Garchomp while the Defense EVs give you a 68.8% chance of OHKOing Ursaluna BM at +2 with Body Press.

Replays:

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-2120265367

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-2120255840

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-2120259157

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-2120262191

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-2120262549

 

[ihbst]

Charizard should be put on the rankings!
-> D
At a glance, it doesn't have much going for it. But that's because most people focused on its blaze ability, ignoring its real power. The sub petaya set is not good, but the specs set is really nice.

Specs Zard set

Charizard @ Choice Specs
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scorching Sands
- Fire Blast/Hurricane
- Air Slash
- Blast Burn

At a glance, this set appears to be outclassed by other fire types. Charizard's unique attributes give it a niche. Unlike something like moltres, charizard reaches the important speed tier of 328 max base 100. Without setup, Charizard's Blast Burn is the 2nd strongest fire type attacks for its speed tier, rivaled only by Delphox.

It is pretty simple set, where you just click blast burn. But you may be wondering why you don't use it over delphox. After all, it has more speed and power. The reason is that, its flying typing gives it an edge VS urshifus. Like, delphox loses pretty bad to urshifu dark, but charizard can beat it. Delphox is not a safe click into urshifu, the same way charizard is. Scorching sands gives it the advantage against other fire types, and its flying type is also a bonus vs the likes of great tusk whom other fires have a harder time with.
Of course, just a simple specs user isn't really enough to warrent a VR spot. But what if I told you it was also a good scarfer. A Choice scarf set is much more niche, but it can catch faster pokemons off guard and you KO them with your powerful fire attacks. Set is basically the same as speccs but you change the item lol.
Lastly, but not the leastly, choice band charizard is a very powerul attacker.... people underestimate its power.

Choice Banded Charizard!

Charizard @ Choice Band
Ability: Blaze
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fly
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Flare Blitz

While many people suspect charizard to be special, it can run physical sets well too. Base 84 attack is unremarkable at first glance, but Charizard overcomes this with its nice typing, speed, and good bulk. Unlike most other fire types, it gets access to Outrage, an extremely powerful tool to beat dragons that usually beat charizard. While Band Charizard doesn't have the same power as specs, or bulk as other physical fires, its power will take many foes by suprise.

So yeah Charizard is an underexplored threat. Btw before you say stuff like use sub petaya, its not so good. Practice proved me right on this take. Either way please consider Charizard for the VR.

 

[fruan]

Without setup, Charizard's Blast Burn is the 2nd strongest fire type attacks for its speed tier, rivaled only by Delphox.

252 SpA Choice Specs Ninetales Overheat vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew in Sun: 348-409 (102 - 119.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Charizard Blast Burn vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 324-382 (95 - 112%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO