BW OU Viability Ranking, mk. 3

[Rewer]

Approved and Reviewed by Finchinator

BW OU Viability Ranking Thread

​

Welcome to the BW OU Viability Ranking thread. This thread contains a ranking of every viable Pokemon, separated in tiers to indicate power gaps. You may notice that they are not ranked alphabetically within their own subtiers; that is because every Pokemon is ranked within their subranks too. For example, if Latios and Ferrothorn are both S rank, but Latios is ranked higher than Ferrothorn, then Latios is the better one of the two.

Keep in mind that rankings are subjective and that your opinion is not a fact, but rather, you should use facts to support your opinions.

BW2 OU Ranking tier list V6

S Rank:

​

Latios​

Tyranitar​

Ferrothorn​

Landorus-Therian​

​

A Rank:

A+

Breloom​

Excadrill​

Keldeo​

Politoed​

Rotom-Wash​

Garchomp​

​

A

Thundurus-Therian​

Tentacruel​

Heatran​

Jirachi​

Reuniclus​

Magnezone​

Alakazam​

Gliscor​

​

A-

Skarmory​

Terrakion​

Dragonite​

Mamoswine​

Kyurem-Black​

​

B Rank:

B+

Gastrodon​

Starmie​

Tornadus​

Gyarados​

Volcarona​

Jellicent​

Slowbro​

Amoonguss​

Ninetales​

Celebi​

Hydreigon​

​

B

Scizor​

Mienshao​

Mew​

Latias​

Milotic​

Cresselia​

Seismitoad​

​

B-

Slowking​

Chansey​

Salamence​

Toxicroak​

Kyurem​

Tangrowth​

Gengar​

Hippowdon​

Xatu​

Bronzong​

C Rank:

Zapdos​

Alomomola​

Ditto​

Victini​

Forretress​

Kingdra​

Metagross​

Azumarill​

Cloyster​

Sableye​

The old VR desperately needed updating so I took the liberty to make a new thread. I didn't make these rankings myself, I used all the posts in the old thread and made an average out of them, so shoutouts Finchinator Mannat McMeghan ABR dice peng M Dragon elodin Raiza for the contributions. A lot of subpar Pokémon that were ranked in the old thread are gone.

Sleep vote and SPL 11 are right around the corner and we'll see how the metagame develops, so this should be updated again soon.

 

[Axurous]

Thank you for updating the rankings, I’m quite happy to see this meta getting this kind of attention!

This new VR doesn’t include my man Infernape, and I get it, it has many flaws and faces strong competition.
However, I’m sure its many attributes can carve him a niche in the metagame. I’m just not sure what since I haven’t played BW in a long time.

Is there any viable way to use Infernape in BW OU?

 

[Rewer]

Thank you for updating the rankings, I’m quite happy to see this meta getting this kind of attention!

This new VR doesn’t include my man Infernape, and I get it, it has many flaws and faces strong competition.
However, I’m sure its many attributes can carve him a niche in the metagame. I’m just not sure what since I haven’t played BW in a long time.

Is there any viable way to use Infernape in BW OU?

Infernape is directly outclassed by the other fighting types, especially Terrakion. He is slower than latios, cant switch into anything, is hard walled by tentacruel, isnt strong enough to cut through popular teams and also easily revenge killed. He would be present in a hypotetical D rank. I just cut out a lot of subpar mons like Infernape from the old ranking that aren't really used anymore, such as Jynx, Lapras, Moltres, Froslass, Virizion etc.

 

[Axurous]

Infernape is directly outclassed by the other fighting types, especially Terrakion. He is slower than latios, cant switch into anything, is hard walled by tentacruel, isnt strong enough to cut through popular teams and also easily revenge killed. He would be present in a hypotetical D rank. I just cut out a lot of subpar mons like Infernape from the old ranking that aren't really used anymore, such as Jynx, Lapras, Moltres, Froslass, Virizion etc.

Alright, thanks for replying. Is there any chance for the tiers to get an update with some of the unused mons dropping to UU where they might see more success?

 

[Rewer]

Alright, thanks for replying. Is there any chance for the tiers to get an update with some of the unused mons dropping to UU where they might see more success?

This thread is the viability ranking for Gen 5 OU only.
Check these threads for the VR of other Gen 5 tiers:

UU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/the-uu-viability-ranking-thread.3474024/
RU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/bw-ru-viability-rankings.3640267/
NU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/bw-nu-viability-rankings.3484121/

 

[wyc2333]

since sleep moves are banned, are these rankings still reasonable?

 

[assless jorts]

since sleep moves are banned, are these rankings still reasonable?

In my opinion *mostly*, yes. It's a miniscule nerf to Politoed and Ninetales (Hypnosis) and a nerf to Amoonguss and Breloom. However, I've found the Breloom set that's really terrifying right now is bulk up protect, which doesn't even have spore. This set has been so good recently I would maybe argue that Breloom would be underranked if sleep were legal, it has both a bulky set that picks apart both common sand and rain cores and offensive sets that can sleep. Amoonguss is probably nerfed because no spore, but now it doesn't have to run sleep talk (and rely on it to check major threats), so it somewhat balances out. Stun spore is still really good, and now you can run sludge bomb or clear smog or whatever. Now it's actually a foolproof Breloom check. Amoonguss is probably the one with the biggest nerf, but it's still a really good pokemon that is an invaluable pivot on sand teams to check Keldeo and such. Nothing else can compress roles in the way that it does. Random stuff that ran sleep talk like specs Latios also doesn't have to anymore, which is good for them. So if anything maybe a slight Amoonguss or Breloom drop (and maybe Latios is marginally better)? With all that said we'll have to see how the metagame develops, it's kind of too early to actually make a decision on this.

maybe Meloetta should be ranked now because relic song is the only way of legally inducing sleep with a move.

 

[Empress Mobile]

What caused Slowking to drop off so much? It seems like many of the things that it counters or checks are still top tier threats. This is more of an inquiry out of curiosity rather than an argument for its placement to change.

 

[Rewer]

What caused Slowking to drop off so much? It seems like many of the things that it counters or checks are still top tier threats. This is more of an inquiry out of curiosity rather than an argument for its placement to change.

Slowking has a lot of problems. Scald burns + sand really hurt it's longetivity and it doesn't have many tools to make up for it, Thundurus-T is too popular on rain teams, it has low defense so it's very pursuitable by Tyranitar, still takes 70% from Latios despite high sp.def, RotomW easily pivots against it, takes 60% from the popular Sand Force Excadrill, prone to getting toxic'd by a lot of mons and even Reuni can be a pain to it with Thunder.

Slowking does have it's merits, such as stopping Keldeo, most Heatran sets, and being a quite powerful attacker on it's own, but as you can see, all the special attackers from A and above and most of below have tools to deal with it. The metagame hasn't been kind. So most of the time, you're better off using a Jellicent or a well EV trained Slowbro.

 

[MaahirMomtaz12]

WHAT you guys banned ALL sleep moves? Even the inaccurate Hypnosis and Grass Whistle? Why??

 

[TheDraugr]

WHAT you guys banned ALL sleep moves? Even the inaccurate Hypnosis and Grass Whistle? Why??

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threa...w-banned-sleep-clause-lifted-post-40.3657777/

tl;dr bw sleep counter is fucking whack

 

[Caetano93]

Amoonguss: A --> B
We are all seeing this coming. After the sleep ban, his usage in oficial games are disastrous. Having now to relly on Stun Spore or Toxic to not be absurdly passive, it is an invite to Ferrothorn / Skarmory to come and Spikes to infinity as they just didn't care for an weak HP Fire or worse, let Excadrill come easier to free Rapid Spin. It is also a setup fooder for almost all mons on the tier, like Breloom, Gliscor, Garchomp, Thundurus-T, Dragonite, Lati@s. It still have it uses as a Regen Core to annoy Rotom and keldeo butnot being able to imediate pressure oponents with sleep fear was a huge blow in his usefullness being an almost worse Celebi atm.

Breloom
Just move him to the first A+ slot. It is having so much tour usage with it BU + Protect set (even some odds SubPunch sets) that almost everyone is carring a random HP Fly mon on their team. Also, it Band set still is powerfull in the meta, especially now that Amoonguss have almost 0 usage.

 

[Finchinator]

First off, I want to echo the sentiments of Caetano93 expressed in the above post.

should rise to the top of A+; this should actually be done by switching it with in overall placement within A+. Garchomp is still a fantastic Pokemon, but it is not quite as common with Landorus-Therian and Excadrill being slightly more viable Ground types and Gliscor being great as well. I think that Breloom is not quite S rank, but it is the most potent member of A+ in the current metagame whereas Garchomp, while still great, could drop 2-3 Pokemon atm.

In addition, should also drop down to B+ or B rank, as Caetano stated. Without Spore, it loses a lot of viability. While it still is a decent option due to being able to check Bulk Up Breloom, SDef Rotom-Wash, non-NP Thundurus-T, etc., it unfortunately is vulnerable to a lot of things and without Spore it loses a lot of niche. You will notice more structures integrating other Grass types or departing from previous defensive schemes entirely as a result of the sleep ban -- Amoonguss falling in viability is highlighted accurately by this.

As for some other things that should change, should move from B+ to A-. While it is not the most consistently used Pokemon, it is a clear step up from fringe options such as Ninetales (seeing where Sun is right now), Hydreigon (simply out of the loop in the metagame rn), and other members of B+. It is much more accurately placed alongside the Pokemon in A-; Terrakion and Mamoswine are perhaps a little better than it, but both are similarly threatening presences that lack much defensive merit and still work their way onto a handful of teams.

should probably move up from the bottom of the rankings a little bit. It is a nice anti-metagame presence with some cool tools at its disposal. Rotom-Wash being kept in check entirely cannot be dismissed, but also it is nice against Politoed and Tentacruel as well usually, which can go a long way. could probably afford to move up to B+ as it is now a bit more viable in the post-Amoonguss metagame. Baton Pass variants are able to avoid Pursuit and mitigate some of the passivity Celebi brings to the table otherwise. There are plenty of options and while it can only work on so many teams, Celebi is a very viable Pokemon right now, especially relative to where it was a couple years back. can afford a rise to B itself. While it is not the most threatening Dragon in the tier, Salamence has seen a fair amount of usage on DragMag and people like dice have made use of it on Sand, too. It is a lot more common and relevant than other B- Pokemon. Finally, speaking of B- Pokemon, has been experimented with sporadically and I really do not think it has much staying power at all, so I feel like a drop is appropriate.

Hopefully will be back with more thoughts based on the current metagame after SPL.

 

[assless jorts]

I want to address S tier a bit because I feel its current state isn't entirely accurate. I really think Latios is top dog, Tyranitar and Ferrothorn are 2 and 3 (in either order, to be honest), Landorus is 4 and everything else is fairly far away. I know some people are really high on drill, but I just don't think it belongs in the same tier as the pokemon that are clearly the four best. Latios is the best because he is good on literally every team and has no counters. Specs never really fails (even if you get caught by ttar just pair it with something else that struggles with ttar and then the counter is gone), and flame orb straight up destroys any switch ins to standard specs sets. Latios compresses a lot of roles - he is fast with a fairly good set of resists, he is incredibly strong, he can break through defensive stuff with trick, and he is immune to spikes. By splashing Latios on your team you sort of casually improve your overall matchup vs. spikes teams (this is MASSIVE in BW, especially on sand), Keldeo, Thundurus-T, Breloom, Terrakion, etc. He is a ridiculously good anti cheese mon, and sort of just invalidates the potential payoff from using some random crap like Hydreigon just because he outspeeds. Ferrothorn also fits on basically every team, although not nearly as much. Tyranitar is a psychic check and sort of the necessary centerpiece of the wide variety of builds that fall under sand. Landorus isn't nearly as big as those three, but he is an amazing scarfer, the SD HP ice set is still disgusting, and other sets can work too. So in conclusion I think the S tier should be either just Latios Tyranitar Ferrothorn (probably in that order) or Latios Tyranitar Ferrothorn Landorus-T, with Excadrill dropping to somewhere in A+. Another option could be Latios Tyranitar Ferrothorn in S, and Landorus-T in S- (maybe Breloom would join him there..) While Excadrill is the only legitimate choice most sand builds have for hazard removal, most of the time it is better to just build teams that inherently are not spikes weak by spamming stuff like Latios, Rotom-W, Landorus-T, Gliscor, Reuniclus, Alakazam, and Skarmory.

For A+, I believe Breloom is the best mon in it, echoing the above sentiments. I also think maybe Heatran should drop a bit - he might be the worst mon in A+ at this point, not sure. Garchomp should also drop some as he can be kind of hard to fit on teams and sees stiff competition from Landorus as a choice scarf user.

For Amoonguss, I think that somewhere in the middle or higher end of B+ is appropriate. Relegating him all the way down to Latias level is too far imo, and somewhere around Slowbro seems accurate.

 

[zf]

following up on the above 3 posts.

I agree completely with the sentiment that S should be Latios, TTar, Ferrothorn, and Landorus in that order.

Heatran should also drop; the sleep ban really hurt it because Latios now has 4 slots to work with, meaning Trick and Recover choice-less sets are a lot more common, reducing Tran's viability as a specially defensive steel; this forces it to run status in order to pressure Latios, opening it up to being stonewalled by Refresh waters and Gliscor. It also lost a mon to absolutely abuse in Amoonguss. High A is probably right for it.

Agree with all of Finch's noms as well; B rank for Amoonguss, B+ for Celebi, and B for Seismitoad is probably right.

In addition, I'd like to propose a drop in rank for Gliscor. Support Lando being everywhere, Latios getting even better, and the loss of Amoonguss as a major player hurt it quite a lot. A rank is probably good for it.

Rotom-W should really be at the top of A+ with Breloom and Excadrill. It provides so much role compression in a single slot and I consider it the special counterpart to Lando-T; it's the best specially-defensive pivot in the tier and still checks grounds like nothing else.

Thundurus-T should get boosted into low A+. This mon (and Breloom) are the only reasons to use Rain in the current meta. It demolishes standard sand teams with Sub sets, and offenses with Agility sets. It even abuses mons like Ferrothorn with physically-defensive sub spreads and lives ScarfChomp Outrage after rocks, giving it utility against DragMag as well.

Alakazam should probably get a boost into A. The Latios buff means there's a partner that breaks TTar and Jirachi much more easily, and Gliscor usage is way down as well. That's basically all it needed to be great again.

Starmie should drop into B+. It's sorely outclassed as a spinner on rain by Tentacruel, has little defensive utility, and is still pretty weak unless it's LO or Specs in rain. It has positives for sure, like outspeeding Latios and an absolute nuke of a move in Analytic rain-boosted Hydro (see me vs dice in w3, 50% to Evio Chansey lol) but it's gotten very niche these last few years.

Gastrodon probably deserves a boost into A- or at least the top of B+. It's by far the most consistent classic-style bulky water and part of that stems from its ability to completely stop Rotom-W, a very useful trait for any team utilizing grounds like Lando, Gliscor, or Exca. It's also the best check to Thund-T, which is an absolute terror to face when playing sand.

Hydreigon should drop another rank to B. I've never seen this mon in modern BW, and I'm sure it still matches up well against fat sands, but LO recoil sucks and it has minimal defensive utility.

 

[Rewer]

SPL mid-season update:

Rises:

Jirachi: A- to A

Alakazam: A- to A

Kyurem-Black: B+ to A-

Celebi: B to B+

Seismitoad: C to B

Drops:

Excadrill: S to A+

Heatran: A+ to A

Gliscor: A+ to A

Amoongus: A to B+

Starmie: A- to B+

Ditto: B- to C

Reasonings:

Hide

Rises:

Jirachi has been seeing a good amount of play in SPL, sitting in the top 10 usage by week 4 with 11 times together with Politoed. The rise of Latios to the best pokemon of the tier has made Jirachi better, and it pairs up very nicely with Breloom.

Alakazam is better in this meta as well. Tyranitar is getting worn down easier in this metagame and that means happy Alakazam. Benefits from Spikes being good as always and forces Breloom out as well.

Kyurem-Black is a bit better than the other pokemon in B+ since dragmag is a fairly good playstyle right now and it's seems to be best with him.

Celebi has some solid advantages over Amoongus after the sleep ban if you want a defensive grass, such as Recover, U-turn and even Stealth Rock. It can also Baton Pass to multiple deadly threats.

Seismitoad has no recovery, but it can put rocks up and take out some items, so it's fit for more offensive teams that don't want to forfeit momentum to Rotom-W.

Drops:

Excadrill is an excelent pokemon, just not as good as the others in S, as very much evidenced by the SPL usage stats. All the mons in S have >50% usage except Excadrill.

Heatran has been indirectly nerfed by the Sleep ban, it was being used to prey on Amoongus for a sub into wrecking, but that pokemon is less common. It has a harder time checking Latios now and is easily walled by serveral pokemon so it can often be a momentum sink. Still a good pokemon in bulkier teams.

Gliscor is still a terror on defensive builds, but it's not being played much, and suffers direct competition from support lando. HP ices being too strong and pretty much every rain mon being able to kill it really hurt it by the special side. Can be a momentum sink for enemy Rotom-W as well. Needs the gimmicky Aerial Ace to fully stop Breloom.

Amoongus has lost a lot of it's viability without Spore. An once splashable mon is now a very specific/niche pick. Still has it's merits, there still aren't many Keldeo answers as solid as Amoongus and it spreads paralysis pretty easily, pretty good paired with Magnezone as well. I believe B is a little too harsh.

Starmie has fallen off big, rarely sees usage outside of teams that REALLY need a very offensive and fast spinner. Bulky starmie is extremely niche and not very viable outside of very few selected builds because it's easily taken advantage of and relies on Scald luck.

Ditto is yet to see any play in SPL and I dont see much use for it unless you have the bot and is counterteaming someone.

Positional changes:

Hide

1. Latios (+1)
2. Tyranitar (-1)
3. Ferrothorn (-)
4. Landorus-Therian (-)
--
5. Breloom (+3)
6. Excadrill (-1)
7. Keldeo (-)
8. Politoed (-)
9. Rotom-Wash (+3)
10. Garchomp (-4)
---
11. Thundurus-Therian (+6)
12. Tentacruel (+1)
13. Heatran (-3)
14. Jirachi (+7)
15. Reuniclus (-1)
16. Magnezone (-)
17. Alakazam (+2)
18. Gliscor (-7)
---
19. Skarmory (-1)
20. Terrakion (-)
21. Dragonite (+3)
22. Mamoswine (+2)
23. Kyurem-Black (+3)
---
24. Gastrodon (+9)
25. Starmie (-3)
26. Tornadus (-1)
27. Gyarados (-)
28. Volcarona (-)
29. Jellicent (-)
30. Slowbro (-)
31. Amoongus (-16)
32. Ninetales (-1)
33. Celebi (+3)
34. Hydreigon (-2)
---
35. Scizor (-1)
36. Mienshao (-1)
37. Mew (-)
38. Latias (-)
39. Milotic (-)
40. Cresselia (-)
41. Seismitoad (+18)
---
Ditto to the top 3 of C

Next update: End of SPL

 

[Caetano93]

Now that the SPL BW games are over i think we can return to some rises and drops / position changes for the VR.
Let me bring some materials for a discussion:

Drop a position: Ferrothorn is still an amazing support Pokémon, either by Spikes or dual hazard support but in the meta atm i don't see him being better than Lando-T to be a position above. Lando right now gives so much role compression and team support that he is sploashable in all teams and playstyles, Ferrothorn not. Also, with the raize of Hidden Power Fire Alakazam and Latios (not the his best set but usable) and with the return of SubLoom i think is dificult to justify him being above Lando but he is clearly an S mon by usage.

A+ -> A: Being frank, losing Hypnosis hurt a lot the toad. Because of that his scarf and offensive gem set are not viable anymore so we now that he is 90% of time being an support def mon with scald / toxic / protect in rain structures. We only use it because of Drizzle. He still have the bulk to absorb some hits, can still be annoying in some specific MUs and can still grab some surprise kills with a specs set, however he didn't bring an instant pressure / game change situation like the others A+ mons anymore. He can't drop more than A tier because rain still is a good archtype but his viability as a mon droped a lot since sleep ban.

A -> A-: I think the recent SPL usage exemplify this perfectly. 14 usages with a ridiculous 28% win rate. With the raise of non scarf Lando-T with the new Latios moveset liberty and more 4atks Ttar runing around hited our molten metal friend hard. I personally can't remember a game (either oficial or tests) where his presence was a important aspect of the MU. He still have his niches, can still hit hard, however now is an glorified Skarmory for very especific fat sands.

B+ -> A-: Hurricane rain is a very nasty and deadly archtype rn (and one that won in this SPL finals) and his new leftovers set versitility with the abillity to remove pressure from dragmag with Tailwind support (a rain nightmare MU) or weakening his defensives checks with Knock Off are really good in the long run. Have an awesome speed tier (helps a lot that Starmie is rare now and ALakazam can't ohko with no SR support), a very goos offensive stab and the power to hurt Tyranitar and steel types with Focus Blast / Superpower. Amazes me that he only got 5 uses in all SPL games but he got 60% win and this makes me think that he deservers a better spot in the VR similarly with what happened with Kyurem-B.

 

[zf]

yo free my mon Moltres


B or B- is prob decent for it, def better than zapdos and prob most comparable to base-forme kyurem. subwisp is big danger and honestly such a fucking pain if you don't have rotom-w - it even generates free turns vs stuff like ttar and heatran most of the time and is an ok loom/ground check. sr weakness is all that's really holding it back, which admittedly is pretty huge

scizor should go to B+. current meta is dominated by psychics and pursuit-based rains are actually good af. max spe cb is faster than mag btw

mienshao and hydrei can prob move down a rank each, can't think of a scenario where i'd want either tbh but they're not terrible

skarm can go to the top of B+ or bottom of A-. lefties exca/rotom/mag being everywhere really hurts it, and choosing between brave bird (exca/loom) or taunt (ferro) makes it a bit of a mu fish these days

volcarona, man... i've tried to make this mon work a million times and it's just so hard this gen - honestly if you even remotely think about this mon in the builder, you will beat it. it's soft-checked by a lot of common stuff based on coverage and you still can't beat 100+ base scarfers... hard pass from me, drop it to B

tangrowth can go to C, another mon that seems ok on paper but it dogshit in practice

cloyster is like volc - powerful but checks everywhere and bad defensive typing. at least can cheese past anything with a bit of luck. B- is prob good for it​

 

[Dovahhkiin64]

I find it hard to believe that weavile isn't even B- rank. It is the perfect partner for dragon spam teams, and if you are rocking a dragon slower than latios you can rely on weavile to decimate the latis. Weavile can also handle lando and ferrothorn who drop to life orb ice shard if it's offensive lando, and ferro is 2hkoed with low kick so long as you predict properly and it's not chople berry.

 

[Finchinator]

I find it hard to believe that weavile isn't even B- rank. It is the perfect partner for dragon spam teams, and if you are rocking a dragon slower than latios you can rely on weavile to decimate the latis. Weavile can also handle lando and ferrothorn who drop to life orb ice shard if it's offensive lando, and ferro is 2hkoed with low kick so long as you predict properly and it's not chople berry.

The thing with Weavile is that it is a Pursuit user that is weak to Stealth Rock, ridiculously fragile, and incapable of switching into any remotely common Pokemon, making it reliant on support and pivots far more than most common Pokemon in the tier. Tyranitar is in the tier and obviously much better than Weavile as a Pursuit user, doing well against Latios without requiring a fodder beforehand or countless pivots to get it in safely. Weavile has a niche in the metagame as a fast Pursuit user on a very limited pool of offensive teams, but requiring lots of support and being very limited when it is utilized makes it one of the more niche Pokemon listed in the OP, hence the low ranking. Finally, Low Kick is not able to break through Ferrothorn in a lone hit, leaving it to lose the 1v1, and Tyranitar runs Chople far more often than not currently.

 

[Icemann]

I find it hard to believe that weavile isn't even B- rank. It is the perfect partner for dragon spam teams, and if you are rocking a dragon slower than latios you can rely on weavile to decimate the latis. Weavile can also handle lando and ferrothorn who drop to life orb ice shard if it's offensive lando, and ferro is 2hkoed with low kick so long as you predict properly and it's not chople berry.

Although I do believe Weavile should probably be ranked I disagree with B-. Its cool for pursuit trapping latios on rain teams. I feel like mamoswine outclasses it a lot of the time in your example because it can run rocks which is good compression. Plus weavile is just frail as fuck. I think banded is also viable. its pursuit ohkoes latios with rocks up and one tick of sandstorm without them switching out iirc.

I'd probably put it in mid C personally

 

[Caetano93]

I'm a personal fan of Weavile teams but i can't find him realiable enough to make use in an oficial game.
It is definitely better than Sableye or Kingdra so i think it's ok a spot in C rank alongside Moltres.

 

[Hematemesis]

Registeel Unranked -> C or B-.

The Set I'm Discussing

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Earthquake

[Do keep in mind that I feel educated with Registeel, but this is still subjective opinions based on objective data. You can draw your own conclusion on the pokemon]
Reasoning:
Pros:
I personally believe that Registeel has a very unique niche and is one of the greatest single mon counters to the popular Dragmag strategy when it is on rain teams. While specs Magnezone can deal considerable damage to it, Registeel still overpowers it with Earthquake, and can absorb specs tbolts with its monstrous 438 spdef stat. Other sets with air balloon/magnet rise to negate the ground type weakness are outdamaged by seismic toss. In addition, it's ability to use thunder wave and stealth rocks adds extremely versatile utility and supports your other pokemon for the late game. Thunder wave is a great way to counter Dragonite - one of the premier partners with Magnezone, and even a specs surf in the rain from Latios (arguably the best pokemon in the metagame, and an S tier mon) does not 2hko Registeel. Registeel can paralyze Kyurem-Black, and can also tank two to three hits, even if it gets outdamaged. Registeel also does surprisingly well against Jirachi in the sense that it can paralyze it, completely wall it, soak up special attacks even on calm mind variants, and earthquake for substantial damage. It also has potentially a winning matchup vs Thund-T, in the sense that it can weaken it with rocks and tank a few attacks (not on focus blast variants, but those are generally less common than grass knot/double boost nowadays from my experience). Although unreliable, Registeel can be a check to Tentacruel, as immunity to toxic and earthquake pose a threat, and thunder waving and setting up rocks overwhelm the pokemon. What I mean by this is if it is trying to protect stall with rain dish and black sludge recovery, paralyzing the pokemon and putting up rocks forces it to hit through paralysis to keep tempo and rapid spin the rocks away, buying Registeel time to whittle it down.. Registeel is a reliable counter to some of the most threatening dragon types in the tier, with the added bonus of being able to check Magnezone - the premier counter to steel types in the tier. It also has surprisingly good matchups against other threatening pokemon.
Cons:
There are a few things holding Registeel back from going any higher than the places I have recommended. For starters, it is really only good at one thing, which is countering dragmag. While dragmag is a large threat in the metagame, Registeel really does not pull its weight against standard rain teams, and especially sand teams - aside from the occasional thunder wave on a threat. Garchomp is a major counter to this pokemon, as is Excadrill, and both are huge pokemon in this tier. Both Gliscor and Landorus are immune to both earthquake and Thunder Wave, and check Registeel with little to no problem. There is also the opportunity cost of running this pokemon, as Ferrothorn is another steel type pokemon that is usable in a lot more circumstances - even if it is trapped and loses to Magnezone often. Additionally, unlike a lot of the top tier threats, this pokemon really only has one good set (in my opinion), which makes it telegraphed and predictable. With all of this being said, I still believe that Registeel deserves its spot in the metagame (and I would love to see more people using it).
Synergies:
Ice Beam Politoed (particularly defensive variants) and Specs Keldeo: I personally think that this is by far the best synergy with Registeel, as setting up the rain and providing ice type coverage are two things that heavily benefit Registeel. The rain allows Registeel to easily tank 5 hidden power fires from specs Magnezone, as well as other fire type moves from prevalent threats such as Fire Punch Dragonite. However, Ice Beam is where Politoed is extremely helpful to Registeel. Aside from Swords Dance Yache Berry Garchomp, ice beam obliterates every ground/dragon or ground/flying pokemon in the meta, nearly KOing/KOing with a roll on all of them and tanking a hit as well. However, I would personally say that this makes the core particularly weak to SD chomp and Kyurem Black, as you have no reliable way to kill it. This is where specs Keldeo comes in. Keldeo outspeeds Garchomp, and Hydro Pump kills even when the rain is not up. Additionally, you can KO with Icy Wind if the Yache is popped by Politoed. Specs Keldeo also KOs Kyurem with one Secret Sword, and is already one of the premier breakers of the tier. The biggest counter to specs Keldeo is Latios, but Registeel is able to beautifully handle that pokemon. Therefore, the three of these pokemon make a powerful rain trio that compliment each other nicely.
Donphan - I will never understand how this thing has ice shard. Although Registeel's main function is to defend against Dragmag, it still falls short vs Garchomp. However, Donphan excels vs Garchomp, and Ice Shard is a great option against Garchomp and every other 4x weak to ice pokemon listed in the previous synergies section. Donphan is stupendous at dealing with the main sand pokemon, as it walls even banded Tyranitar and obliterates Excadrill. Donphan is pretty susceptible to ice type damage, but Registeel handles that greatly. Additionally, Latios is a pokemon that Donphan can barely touch even with SE Ice Shard, and gets KOed on a roll even from scarf sets, but Registeel is a strong counter to Latios, which allows the two to compliment each other.

Conclusion:
This pokemon is UU for a reason. It will never be a staple of the Gen 5 OU meta. With that being said, I believe that with strong teambuilding, Registeel shuts down the gameplan of a huge portion of the metagame, in Dragmag. Being a steel type that can counter Magnezone is unheard of in the meta (the two main steel types in Jirachi and Ferrothorn are walled and easily killed by Zone, but Registeel can beat it and serves other purposes). I therefore believe that it deserves a spot on the viability rankings, as it is indeed a viable pokemon.

LMK if I've made any mistakes or if you have an opinion on Registeel :).

 

[Finchinator]

Registeel Unranked -> C or B-.

The Set I'm Discussing

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss
- Earthquake

[Do keep in mind that I feel educated with Registeel, but this is still subjective opinions based on objective data. You can draw your own conclusion on the pokemon]
Reasoning:
Pros:
I personally believe that Registeel has a very unique niche and is one of the greatest single mon counters to the popular Dragmag strategy when it is on rain teams. While specs Magnezone can deal considerable damage to it, Registeel still overpowers it with Earthquake, and can absorb specs tbolts with its monstrous 438 spdef stat. Other sets with air balloon/magnet rise to negate the ground type weakness are outdamaged by seismic toss. In addition, it's ability to use thunder wave and stealth rocks adds extremely versatile utility and supports your other pokemon for the late game. Thunder wave is a great way to counter Dragonite - one of the premier partners with Magnezone, and even a specs surf in the rain from Latios (arguably the best pokemon in the metagame, and an S tier mon) does not 2hko Registeel. Registeel can paralyze Kyurem-Black, and can also tank two to three hits, even if it gets outdamaged. Registeel also does surprisingly well against Jirachi in the sense that it can paralyze it, completely wall it, soak up special attacks even on calm mind variants, and earthquake for substantial damage. It also has potentially a winning matchup vs Thund-T, in the sense that it can weaken it with rocks and tank a few attacks (not on focus blast variants, but those are generally less common than grass knot/double boost nowadays from my experience). Although unreliable, Registeel can be a check to Tentacruel, as immunity to toxic and earthquake pose a threat, and thunder waving and setting up rocks overwhelm the pokemon. What I mean by this is if it is trying to protect stall with rain dish and black sludge recovery, paralyzing the pokemon and putting up rocks forces it to hit through paralysis to keep tempo and rapid spin the rocks away, buying Registeel time to whittle it down.. Registeel is a reliable counter to some of the most threatening dragon types in the tier, with the added bonus of being able to check Magnezone - the premier counter to steel types in the tier. It also has surprisingly good matchups against other threatening pokemon.
Cons:
There are a few things holding Registeel back from going any higher than the places I have recommended. For starters, it is really only good at one thing, which is countering dragmag. While dragmag is a large threat in the metagame, Registeel really does not pull its weight against standard rain teams, and especially sand teams - aside from the occasional thunder wave on a threat. Garchomp is a major counter to this pokemon, as is Excadrill, and both are huge pokemon in this tier. Both Gliscor and Landorus are immune to both earthquake and Thunder Wave, and check Registeel with little to no problem. There is also the opportunity cost of running this pokemon, as Ferrothorn is another steel type pokemon that is usable in a lot more circumstances - even if it is trapped and loses to Magnezone often. Additionally, unlike a lot of the top tier threats, this pokemon really only has one good set (in my opinion), which makes it telegraphed and predictable. With all of this being said, I still believe that Registeel deserves its spot in the metagame (and I would love to see more people using it).
Synergies:
Ice Beam Politoed (particularly defensive variants) and Specs Keldeo: I personally think that this is by far the best synergy with Registeel, as setting up the rain and providing ice type coverage are two things that heavily benefit Registeel. The rain allows Registeel to easily tank 5 hidden power fires from specs Magnezone, as well as other fire type moves from prevalent threats such as Fire Punch Dragonite. However, Ice Beam is where Politoed is extremely helpful to Registeel. Aside from Swords Dance Yache Berry Garchomp, ice beam obliterates every ground/dragon or ground/flying pokemon in the meta, nearly KOing/KOing with a roll on all of them and tanking a hit as well. However, I would personally say that this makes the core particularly weak to SD chomp and Kyurem Black, as you have no reliable way to kill it. This is where specs Keldeo comes in. Keldeo outspeeds Garchomp, and Hydro Pump kills even when the rain is not up. Additionally, you can KO with Icy Wind if the Yache is popped by Politoed. Specs Keldeo also KOs Kyurem with one Secret Sword, and is already one of the premier breakers of the tier. The biggest counter to specs Keldeo is Latios, but Registeel is able to beautifully handle that pokemon. Therefore, the three of these pokemon make a powerful rain trio that compliment each other nicely.
Donphan - I will never understand how this thing has ice shard. Although Registeel's main function is to defend against Dragmag, it still falls short vs Garchomp. However, Donphan excels vs Garchomp, and Ice Shard is a great option against Garchomp and every other 4x weak to ice pokemon listed in the previous synergies section. Donphan is stupendous at dealing with the main sand pokemon, as it walls even banded Tyranitar and obliterates Excadrill. Donphan is pretty susceptible to ice type damage, but Registeel handles that greatly. Additionally, Latios is a pokemon that Donphan can barely touch even with SE Ice Shard, and gets KOed on a roll even from scarf sets, but Registeel is a strong counter to Latios, which allows the two to compliment each other.

Conclusion:
This pokemon is UU for a reason. It will never be a staple of the Gen 5 OU meta. With that being said, I believe that with strong teambuilding, Registeel shuts down the gameplan of a huge portion of the metagame, in Dragmag. Being a steel type that can counter Magnezone is unheard of in the meta (the two main steel types in Jirachi and Ferrothorn are walled and easily killed by Zone, but Registeel can beat it and serves other purposes). I therefore believe that it deserves a spot on the viability rankings, as it is indeed a viable pokemon.

LMK if I've made any mistakes or if you have an opinion on Registeel :).

I am glad that people are trying new things in the tier and posting their ideas, but Registeel seems like a poor choice. I respect the amount of detail you put into your explanation, so let me try to elaborate myself here a bit.

Unfortunately, Registeel loses to every common spinner (Excadrill and Tentacruel, most notably, but also the occasional bulky Starmie) while also being deadweight against Rain teams (Poli/Tenta/Ferro sit on it and cripple it) and opposing Spikers (Ferro/Skarm set-up easily) entirely, which you cannot really afford out of as team slot in this proactive metagame. The sheer bulkiness of it can definitely seem appealing and you raise some good points about Pokemon it can keep in check, but even against DragMag, which you claim it will excel against, it will struggle to carry its weight as it is very likely to be a recipient of Trick from Latios and Ground types like Landorus-T and Garchomp are common, which handle Registeel far better than other Steel types you rely on Magnezone for. Finally, every VR thread tends to require some replay evidence to be posted for Pokemon to be nominated to be ranked and I have not seen any noteworthy BW games with Registeel at all.

 

[Hematemesis]

I am glad that people are trying new things in the tier and posting their ideas, but Registeel seems like a poor choice. I respect the amount of detail you put into your explanation, so let me try to elaborate myself here a bit.

Unfortunately, Registeel loses to every common spinner (Excadrill and Tentacruel, most notably, but also the occasional bulky Starmie) while also being deadweight against Rain teams (Poli/Tenta/Ferro sit on it and cripple it) and opposing Spikers (Ferro/Skarm set-up easily) entirely, which you cannot really afford out of as team slot in this proactive metagame. The sheer bulkiness of it can definitely seem appealing and you raise some good points about Pokemon it can keep in check, but even against DragMag, which you claim it will excel against, it will struggle to carry its weight as it is very likely to be a recipient of Trick from Latios and Ground types like Landorus-T and Garchomp are common, which handle Registeel far better than other Steel types you rely on Magnezone for. Finally, every VR thread tends to require some replay evidence to be posted for Pokemon to be nominated to be ranked and I have not seen any noteworthy BW games with Registeel at all.

Alrighty, I see your point. I have a few replays with this pokemon, but I don't think I'm of the caliber for them to be "noteworthy." I encourage anyone to try it in the meta since I think it has potential, but until then my boy will sit in unranked.