Resource Celeste's Guide to Ubers Draft

[Celestiial]

Approved by Nyx
THIS POST IS PART ONE OF TWO

Hello Smogon Draft people! Tis I, Celeste, who you likely do not know, to bring you:
A Somewhat Comprehensive Beginners Guide To Ubers Draft!
(Both Koraidon and Miraidon are banned, do not worry)

With our First Ubers Tour right around the corner, and a few requests on the discord for a basic guide to how to approach what will be a very new meta to a majority both new and veterans of the draft scene, as this specific format is one not very common even most established draft communities.

Because I expect this to be fairly long a lot will be stored under spoiler tags for sizes sake; so if you want the full write up I highly recommend not skipping any!

So what does this guide plan to cover?

The plan is as follows:

1. Cover the important aspects of teambuilding and creating a draft that will be able to have answers to the common threats you will be facing, including some samples to show what to and not to do
2. Give somewhat in depth overviews of the most popular Pokémon in this format, as well as suggestions for when to pick them up and when to start looking at options outside of the uber pool
3. Give an explanation as to what Pokémon one should be considering outside of the uber pool, as the viable options here vastly differ from what typically performs well in standard draft.

Hopefully these will be enough to help you get an understanding of how to tackle Nat Dex Ubers, as this is a very unique and fun metagame to partake in. Despite it being a new experience for most players, we want to make sure that this tour is still a fun one first and foremost.

As a reminder, if you have any questions this can be asked in the discord server or directed to one of the members of the tiering council.

So without further ado, lets get started!

Rules and their Implications

If you would like to see the rules of this tour, please reference the announcement post, or read below:

Ruleset

• Draft pools will consist of 10 people per pool.
• You have up to 200 points with which to draft 10 to 12 Pokémon. Costs are listed on your pool’s tab on the drafting spreadsheet.
• If a Pokémon is picked by someone else, you may not pick it.
• You may not draft more than one mega evolution.
• For the first round, there is a 12 hour timer. After the first round ends, there will be a continuous 6 hour timer within which you must pick, or you will be skipped, and will be required to make-up your pick when you are next online. All timers are off between 10pm-7am local time (check your pools pinned message for local time).
• Your timer will halve every time you are skipped. It is recommended to leave picks (with backups) with your pool moderator to avoid this.
  The following complex bans are in place:
  - Xerneas may not use the move Geomancy
  - No Pokémon may use the move Hidden Power
  - No Pokémon may use the move Refresh
  - No Pokémon may use the move Revival Blessing
  The following Pokémon have access to all of their forms (although you may only bring up to 1 to each battle):
  - Dialga
  - Palkia
  - Giratina
  - Basculin
  - Oricorio
  - Toxtricity
  - Indeedee
  - Zamazenta
  - Basculegion
  - Oinkologne
  - Maushold
  - Squawkabilly
  - Tatsugiri
  - Dudunsparce
  - Ogerpon
• If a Pokémon that is available in NatDex is untiered, please ask a host.
• Smogon’s Species Clause applies to your draft.

What is most important about these rules, is that the teams are going to be bigger with a lot more options then your typical 8 mon smogon draft tour. As mentioned in this post by Nyx; this is a step taken in order to make sure all teams get to use a wide range of ubers (Typically ranging from 3->6 or even 7) while also being able to get useable non uber Pokémon. This allows us to add more legal ubers for people to mess around with, while keeping the teams as a whole in balance regardless of their draft picks, as often this can be a point of frustration for many players. Ubers is a whole different beast compared to many other draft formats, and is handled with care to ensure utmost player enjoyment.

The Basics

One of the first and most important things to recognize about ubers compared to standard draft, is that the huge level of threats naturally lead to far more aggresive playstyles, where most games come down to who can get into a strong setup position first with the many strong sweepers in the tier. Very few pokemon are able to effectively stall common threats, and his is exacerbated by gen 9 changes such as the recovery nerf or the addition of taunt and dragon dance to arceus's movepool. Which means as a rule of thumb, most strong ubers drafts will be focused around strong offensive threats and supporting them as much as possible. Not entirely H/O, but you will see more offense oriented teams succeeding so far this generation. This guide goes more in depth into the specifics of which Pokémon do things best later, but a key thing to keep in mind in both how you draft and how you play is the dangers of a Pokémon being too passive for this meta. When offensive threats are a plenty and even the most sturdy of walls can be broken eventually, it's vital to make sure that any defensive options you have are able to be active in a game and help keep the momentum in your favour. This all means each team should probably (but not always!) have decent Pokémon the following general roles:

• Sweepers - this is most often done through one's own Arceus but many other Pokemon are potent at this as well
• Breakers - This format comes loaded to the brim with bulky threats like Ho-Oh, Groudon, and Arceus and left without ways to remove these from the field many teams will struggle to make any meaningful progress. A good breaker will always be paired with strong sweepers/cleaners so that the two of them can work together to patch each others offensive holes (E.g, Arceus Ground and Kyurem White)
• Momentum Grabbers - this can be done through a variety of of ways, through defensive Pokémon putting a stop to a setup sweeper and turning the tides of a battle with status or phasing, or a strong pivot that can bring in your own powerful threats.
• Disruptors - While mentioned briefly above, status such as Paralysis, Burn, and even smaller things such as Taunt and Encore are vital to maintaining an advantage against any given team, and a team without options to punish setup is just asking to be swept.
• Hazard Control - And by hazard control I specifically mean setting, very few Pokémon are able to safely defog without giving their opponents a free turn, but notable exceptions to this rule are listed in the second post in this thread. As a general rule Spikes and TSpikes are probably two of the best hazards right now, but Rocks are far from unusable. Any team should have a good way to set most, if not all of these up depending on the matchup (I get it, TSpikes especially is annoying to find).

As for how you go about creating these teams, that's what the rest of the guide is supposed to provide insight for. So read on dear traveler!

Sample Drafts

I was originally planning on putting this at the end, but to deal with issues with hitting the character limit (no surprises there) lets showcase a few sample teams that demonstrate how one could approach creating an ubers draft. All of these teams come from this style of format from a private ubers league, and should serve as a basic idea of how to create (and in one case not create) a draft.

Ice Spam

Drafted by Frito (7-2, +23, lost in semis)

While at a glance this team looks pretty bad due to the common overlap in types and therefore downright atrocious defensive synergy, what Frito has drafted here shows how one does not need a team that checks a multitude of type boxes to succeed. A closer look shows that this team has all the tools necessary to beat the stronger threats it might be faced with; Having almost no room for opposing dragons to breathe, effective checks for most Arceus forms using this teams terrifying offensive power, as well as defensive checks to the Fightings and Steels that exploit this team's defensive gaps. Corv, Zapdos, Clodsire, and even Mega Metagross were able to provide useful utility through pivoting in the first two's case, and hazards in the latter. Frito piloted this team to key victories even besting teams with Ho-oh and Arceus Steel, which answer this team well on paper (I wish i could show you exactly how, but alas with replays nuked just understand that Calyrex Ice and Kyurem White are absolute menaces, and Arceus Dragon should never be discounted as an offensive Arceus form.) While this is far from what your average ubers draft will look like, I felt it was important to highlight how the most important aspect of drafting ubers is having sufficient checks to every single main threat you could face, and sufficient ways to support them, which was the case here. If you are still doubting this teams viability, take a serious look at the draft board and name a single threat this team doesn't have reliable options to beat. Spoiler, this is very difficult.

What Happens when you draft well around two of the best mons in the format

Drafted by Fc and Aberforth (9-0, +25, Won Finals)

Getting the big one out of the way, Aber and FC are both excellent ubers players and a big part of this teams success was likely due to that, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything to learn here. At a glance it is easy to tell that between Xerneas and Arc-Ground this team already has fantastic offensive synergy, with Xern only faltering into a few Poisons and Steels while Arc Ground excells at picking away exactly that. It even has options to strategically snipe out the common weaknesses of Arceus Ground in Grass and Water types with Kyurem, and an auxiliary sweeper/breaker in Mega Salamence. And this isn't even getting into the powerful defensive options this team has. It won't be explicitly covered in part 2 of this document, but Heatran can function well as a check to a lot of ubers with hazards and status spam and an excellent defensive type into Fairy and Dragon types. Pex and Ferro are both very effective in their own right at enabling offense through their own hazard spam and status to cripple many threats. The one danger I immediately see with this team is a worry that Ferro and Pex tend to lean a bit on the passive side, but the rest of the teams ability to smash through anything in its path solidifies it as one of if not the best ubers drafts I have seen this generation thus far.

My attempt, and why it kind of sucks

Drafted by Me (2-7, -21. Last place lol)

Going into the season I used this draft I was originally very excited, I had a powerful sweeper option in Arceus Poison, an incredible defensive threat in Ho-Oh, and powerful versatility in Mega Mewtwo X, Genesect, and a strong special attacker and cleaner in Palkia. My non ubers weren't horrible as well (although I did get sniped pretty bad throughout the draft). Ferrothorn gave my team much needed hazards, but in reality Gliscor, Sylveon, and obviously Hitmontop never came to a match. Looking back, the biggest issue with this team was the face that I had no real strong breaker, outside of Arceus Poison if it had gotten set up. Mewtwo may seem like a prime candidate for a breaker, but trust me when I say it struggles a lot at that (this will be discussed at length). Because of the lack of strong offensive counterplay to even low tier walls like Ting-Lu and Galarian Slowking, I was often forced into hoping I won the hazard war and was able to be aggressive enough with my switches to try and force progress by forcing mons that threatened me off the field to try and enable my setup. This is why its very important to make sure that a team has very good offensive synergy and has the options it needs to win against any Pokémon, because even at a glance my team struggled hard into many matchups and I often find myself struggling in prep to find conceivable checks with the few options I had.

 

[Celestiial]

THIS POST IS PART TWO OF TWO
​

This ended up having to be split into two parts because of just how ridiculously long this section is, enjoy reading!

Pokémon Analyses (the long part)

The Big 5

It is nigh undeniable that these 5 Pokémon are among the best in the tier. While there are nuances in how individuals may rate then, these are the Pokémon you should almost always grab if they should fall to you, as they are all extremely capable in whatever they choose to do.

Arceus Ground
Arceus Ground is pretty effortlessly one of the best setup sweepers in this tier. Its excellent typing both offensively and defensively enables it to threated a vast majority of the tier as a terrifying breaker or outright sweeper with its setup sets, as it can run all of CM, DD, and SD to great effect into almost any team. The addition of taunt gives it a reliable way to shut down Arceus forms and other Will-O-Wisp mons from burning it, while its typing packs a natural immunity to paralysis, another common tool used to shut down many of its counterparts. Despite this, its most reliable checks often end up as other Arceus forms, and phasers as physical walls like Groudon can be exploited with its CM. Arceus Ground was one of the closest mons to being banned for this tour, and it will absolutely prove itself why as the tour progresses.

Calyrex Ice
Calyrex ice easily establishes itself as a premier physical threat in Ubers as an incredibly threatening breaker and even sweeper, given the time to set going of course. Glacial lance already is one of the single strongest moves in this metagame, and Caly uses it boosting items such as Choice Band and Loaded Dice to great effect, allowing it to use powerful coverage such as Bullet Seed to aid in breaking the pesky water types that tend to be this mons main faltering point. Close Combat provide an insane amount of raw power as well, which never hurts. It has a variety of sweeping options as well, where it can run trick room or even agility to tear a hole in your opponents defense or win games outright, and many games are decided by if one is able to put enough of a dent in Caly to prevent it from snowballing out of control. Weakness Policy is a very popular item on it, as well as the ever prevalent heavy duty boots. As mentioned, its best checks tend to either be ones that can prevent it from snowballing through its sheer power (good luck given its bulk) or provide ways to cripple it with status such as burn, and even paralysis as this allows it to be more easily checked outside of Trick Room, and can sometimes waste turns. This mon is rarely countered by any specific Pokémon, but more how the opponent chooses to play around it in an attempt to not let it get free turns.

Eternatus
While it has fallen off in the defensive department as a scary wall due to the recovery nerf, Eternatus finds itself still poised in this meta as a potent poison powerhouse, finding itself with a very high speed stat and many options to beat its oppoents. Tools like Meteor beam and Agility let it function as a powerful setup threat with added coverage like Fire Blast, while T-Spikes have gotten a second hand buff due to the offensive nature of Nat Dex Ubers as a format. The bulky sets are by no means bad, as this Pokémon still does very well especially an a format where it can outspeed and outlast most Arceus forms, with the exception of Poison. Overall Eternatus again proves itself to be a strong threat in gen 9 yet again, with its checks being limited to the spdef walls that can manage being poisoned and the powerful Psychics and scarfers that can revenge it. It has a tendency to run into 4 moveslot syndrome on both offensive and defensive sets, but the sheer strength and simplicity Eternatus brings to the table justifies its position as a 30 pointer.

Marshadow
While this mythical Pokémon may seem out of place in the 30 point tier, Marshadow places itself as an incredibly versatile physical attacker set with a plethora of tools to help it beat opposing offense while still being one of the most threatening physical attackers itself. What may have what seems like a relatively weak 125 attack stat, the power of Ghost/Fighting STAB + superpowered coverage like Rock Tomb thanks to Technician leads it to be able to achieve 2HKOs on almost any Pokémon it may find itself up against (if not an outright OHKO). You will commonly see it run Choiced sets (either Band for a more breaking focused set or Scarf for beating opposing offense), but it can run sets like Bulk Up very effectively as well. An important think of note is that Marshadow puts Shadow Sneak to VERY good use, as one of the most powerful priority moves available again due to Technician. This allows Marshadow sets that might be being outsped by opposing Scarfers or setup sweepers (that outspeed it) to have a reliable option to pick them off. And of course, Marshadow is always good into the setup mons that it outspeeds with its ability to steal boosts. Most teams most reliable checks will often be an Arceus form, as they have the sheer stats to be able to take its hits and dish our consistent damange back (provided you play safely around coverage options.)

Xerneas
Xerneas proves to us that it does not need to have Geomancy legal to have a chokehold on the ubers metagame. Its Fairy STAB powered through the roof by Fairy Aura lets it be a powerful threat that when run with Scarf can outspeed and decimate any number of fast offensive threats, all while being very bulky to withstand the few hits it will be met with. Xerneas's Scarf set is its break and butter, forcing many teams into wanting strong Steel, Poison, and sometimes Fire types (such as Ho-Oh) to be able to have a chance at with standing its brutal assault. Along with this it comes packed to the brim with useful utility moves such as Defog and Aromatherapy, and also moves such as Night Slash, Close Combat, and Rock Slide to put a dent in the common aforementioned checks. A reliable game in and game out performer, Xerneas is a welcome addition to any team it finds itself on.

Other Strong Threats

This section will cover a lot of other top meta threats, that you can expect to see be taken late round 1/Early round 2 that provide valuable assets to any team they are on.
Arceus Fairy, Water, Poison, and Steel
For simplicities sake, these next few will be grouped together just to make this a bit less tedious of a read, as from here on out Arceus formes are effectively split into groups of more Defensively oriented types and more Offensively oriented types, and they function as well as their given type does at their role.

The strongest offensive Arc formes in this section are without a doubt Poison, Water, and Steel. They all have very powerful options for their attacking sets, with Poison and Water especially having strong STAB options on both sides of the spectrum (with Poison however having to worry more about hitting its attacks, thanks Gunk Shot.) While these forms all also have valuable offensive sets it is important to still acknowledge the defensive merits of their type. Poison will naturally be good defensively due to a Fairy resist and Toxic immunity; Water is renown as a strong defensive type in almost any format; and Steel provides many useful resists. However here we start to see a divide in Arceus formes and their common uses especially in the case of Poison, which is one of the more popular Arceus formes in Hyper Offense teamstyles.

Fairy is without a doubt the best defensive Arceus on the board, all while needed to run one set. Due to a lack of strong physical options Fairy is able to effectively run a Calm Mind set in basically every matchup imaginable due to the power of Fairy STAB (as proven by Xerneas) and the insane defensive merits that the Fairy typing provides, including key resistances to Fighting and Dark with immunities to one of the most common stabs in the tier: Dragon. The ability to use Will-O-Wisp and addition of Taunt especially benefits this and many other defensive leaning to allow them to have more options to shut down and cripple both offense and defense alike.

Another important general rule is that one of the best balancing acts to Arceus formes in general is that their best checks (outside of Pokémon that naturally decimate their given type) tend to be opposing Arceuses as very little can match their prowess in speed, bulk, and attacking powers alike. However Most Arceus formes (as mentioned in the Arc-Ground overview) tend to be somewhat reliably checked by any form of status.

Ho-Oh
If I could pick the single best defensive Pokémon in this format, I would probably tell you that with all the Arceus formes it can be incredibly hard to choose, but then say "Yeah, its Ho-Oh." Regenerator and a powerful defensive type combination with beastly stats allows this Pokémon to stand firm in the way of quite literally, almost everything. Sacred Fire is a powerful asset in patching its (not very weak but albeit lower) physical defense, while it can still comfortably run Toxic to allow it to threaten a large amount of Arceus formes. While many Pokémon do have Rock Slide and Stone Edge as a coverage option, it very rarely successfully gets the ever so important OHKO on this beast of a bird.

Examples

0 Atk Xerneas Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Ho-Oh: 296-352 (71.1 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Arceus Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ho-Oh: 352-416 (84.6 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

This doesn't even begin to cover Ho-Oh's nigh unwallable STAB combination, allowing it to run a large variety of sets, running all of them quite well. It is only held back by opposing status, the common coverage moves that do still threaten some of its more glaring weaknesses, and of course loosing its precious Boots.

Yveltal
Yveltal succeeds largely by being able to do almost anything it could want to do, doing it very well at that. It is a powerful offensive threat packing some of the most deadly Knock offs and Sucker Punches in the tier, backed by powerful hone claws and scarf sets (without even beginning to mention the powerful special attacks it can unleash as well.) Oblivion Wing allowing it to effectively run Life Orb also increases its unpredictability in the offensive category. It is able to also be a strong defensive answer to the most deadly Ghost types in the tier, and in general can be a very viable defensive option for a team as well, as the combination of Knock and Oblivion Wing can give it options some tanks would never dream of accomplishing. This is only made better by its access to a STAB, Dark Aura boosted Foul Play which can devastate physical offense. When this is accompanied by access to u turn and being one of the few reliable Defoggers in the tier. As per most ubers it is especially susceptible to status as it limits its capabilities to do any of its jobs well, as well as the strong Fairies and common Ice coverage carried by Arceus formes.

Zekrom
Zekrom stands as one of the most threatening offensive mons in the tier, with a incredibly strong STAB combination (as being proved by Raging Bolt in OU), and access to a terrifying Dragon Dance and CB set. This allows it to be both an effective wallbreaker, and sweeper that comes packed with a surprising amount of longevity with its ability to run Roost, sometimes allowing it to run very effective defensive sets which are bolstered by the recent addition of Stealth Rocks to its movepool. Unique to it as well as very powerful mixed sets, which when paired with Life Orb can be incredibly threatening as well. The main issue with Zekron is that when running into threatening bulky Grounds, Steels, or any Arceus form can resist its STABs is that it will sometimes not be able to be as effective at running its most powerful sets, as running coverage often means dropping setup, Roost, or other valuable coverage. Despite being TWave immune, it especially fears Toxic and Burn more then most other mons would, and its sub par defensive typing in a more general setting can often cause issues. Lastly its speed is somewhat lacking, where many Scarfers will be able to outspeed it even at +1, but despite its large number of flaws the insane benefits often justify a Round 1/early Round 2 pick.

Primal Kyogre
Primal Kyogre is one of the weirder Pokémon in this format, being significantly worse then its regular counterpart. Primordial Sea and a godly Special Attack stat however allows it to be an incredibly threatening special breaker, albeit a slow one. It also has a powerful niche of being a very bulky and reliable switch in to Knock Off which can be a potential option to get it rolling with devastating Calm Mind sets if it has enough time to cook. An important reminder is the fact that not being able to hold an item makes P-Kyogre much more limiting in practice then it could be in theory, it lacks options for reliable recovery (Rest does not count) and its slow Speed often holds it back in many matchups. It also has the problem that almost every strong special attacking uber packs a healthy dosage of Thunder in its moveset, therefore adding a lot of pressure to P-Kyogre in games. Primal Kyogre overall may not be worth your round one pick, but will consistently add a very powerful source of special offense to any team.

Groudon
Closing off this section, Groudon is overall another one of the better mons in the format, with many options allowing it to accomplish almost anything it may set out to do in a game with its strong sets including but not being limited to:

• Swords Dance
• Rock Polish (sometimes in combination with SD)
• Special/Mixed attacking sets (here is another life orb mon)
• Defensive (excelling at being a physical wall)
• Hazard Setting machine

With all these different options, its no wonder Groudon is one of the most reliable and versatile mons available in this format. While it doesn't enable any potential Sun sweepers nearly as well as its banned counterpart in Koraidon, it still provides a lot of valuable support options to its team through phasing, Will-O-Wisp, and Hazard Control, especially with its newly added Spikes. While it suffers from many powerful Special Attackers and the widespread coverage of Ice Beam, Groudon rarely finds itself in a completely unwinnable matchup and is able to at least somewhat perform in whatever it so chooses to do.

Pretty Good Guys

From now on the analyses get way shorter (with the exception of one, because I have very strong feelings on this Pokémon. The next few could go anywhere in the 3rd to 4th rounds (occasionally lasting as far as 5), and are absolutely worth considering if you see them any later.
Arceus Dark, Dragon, Flying, and Fighting
Arceus Flying is simple, amazing stab Judgment for a great calm mind sweeper, with a crippling stealth rock weakness increasing its 2HKO threshold.

Arceus Dark has a unique role as it is the only Arceus form with stab Foul Play, as well as being a good Calm Mind sweeper Arceus thanks to Dark-Judgment being largely unresisted by the bulkier mons in the format. Its issues lie in that it is weak to ALL Scarf Fighting types, as well as having poor matchups into many higher tiers as have been covered above. The final nail in its coffin is the fact that it is U-Turn weak, sometimes taking around 50 from the tiers stronger non-STAB U-turns. Despite these seemingly large flaws, it still is one of the stronger Arceus formes.

For Arceus Dragon, its bulk and typing allows it to take on a lot of the tiers Dragon types especially when they aren't paired with a Scarf as well as having a fairly reliable neutral STAB against most of the tier. It is held back the most by a pretty serious Fairy and Ice weakness, and while the super effective Dragon STAB makes it a nice option for opposing Dragons; the weakness itself does it no favours.

Arceus Fighting is set apart by being one of the few special Fighting types in the game, it can power through a lot of typical Fighting-type checks because of this, and it has valuable resistances, notably a resistance to Stealth Rocks and Knock Off. Another more niche option it has is a STAB Body Press. Unfortunately, being weak to Flying and Psychic in a meta where both of those are both prevalent and powerful is a massive downfall.
Kyurem White
As with regular Kyurem in so many of its appearances, Kyurem White is an elite special breaker with practically unresisted STABs, aided by the movepool addition of Fusion Flare for Steel Types. However it is extremely limited by the weakness to Stealth Rocks putting a lot of pressure on the user should they want to run powerful items like Choice Specs and Choice Scarf, which can bring Kyurem White's power to absurd levels, causing the user to decide which risks they are most willing to take.
Zacian
This poor doggo has unfortunately fallen from the good graces of quite possibly one of the most broken abilities in the game, but still has some interesting tools going for it. Despite the fact Intrepid Sword no longer triggers multiple times, the +1 attack boost on its initial arrival can still prove deadly to an unprepared team, and options like Swords Dance can still provide a threat in the endgame once your opponents Pokémon are sufficiently chipped. However, without the initial boost Zacian's power can often be underwhelming if not properly positioned.
Lunala
Lunala comes packed with a very strong STAB combination in ubers and with powerful coverage in Moonblast and Ice Beam allows it to offensively pressure most of the tier. Its defensive stats in combination with Shadow Shield also allow it to run a VERY potent defensive set, packed with the option of any status it could dream of; having access to Hypnosis, Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, and Toxic. If you can support its two quad-weaknesses to Ghost and Dark, you will have a very strong and reliable team member.
Mewtwo, Mega Mewtwo X
A few things,

1. As a fair warning this is the longest analysis here, if you are interested in a fast special Psychic with good coverage and the frailty of Deoxys is too much of a downside for you to consider using it, you can stop reading here.
2. There is a reason these two mons are listed together. A lot of players coming here from Ladder and leagues that allow a smaller amount of ubers may be understandably confused as to this, but they are more similar then you may expect in usage.
3. I am biased against mewtwo. Am I right? Yes, but some people beg to differ, hence this exists.

The Mewtwo Debate

Ah Mewtwo, Ever since Gen 1 this guy has gone around being just a general all-around menace. However in Gen 9 Mewtwo begins to falter, as does Mega Mewtwo X (MMX). This does not mean that they are outright terrible, just means you have to have a different approach to what you may expect upon drafting them.

The primary appeal of both Mewtwo And MMX is the sheer set versatility. Both have access to powerful offensive moves on both sides, with Mewtwo rivalling Mega Mewtwo Y's power when equipped with a Life Orb. Their coverage is also downright terrifying, allowing them to hit almost whatever they want super effectively with ease. This paired with strong tools like fast Taunt, Knock Off, Screens, Will-O-Wisp, and Recover should in theory create an incredibly powerful and versatile Pokémon, however this is where our main problem arises.

The bottom line is that Mewtwo (in both cases) often struggles to be incredibly effective at what it chooses to do, having difficulty picking coverage and sometimes just lacking the power to hit hard enough right off the bat, or the bulk to effectively set it up. Recover can somewhat alleviate this, but the PP nerf and ubiquitous nature of hazards makes this riskier, not even taking into account the fact that this is yet another moveslot that could be used for coverage.

While Mewtwo and MMX are far from the worst ubers, and can be effective despite not being top tier, it is important to understand that when one drafts Mewtwo you are drafting it for the role compression, as some teams do benefit from having a strong "Jack of all trades, master of none." While Mewtwo and MMX have many different sets they can run, keep in mind that they sometimes struggle properly excel at any of them, as this is a common misconception that people have when approaching this mon.

The only notable difference between forms is that MMX has a Stealth Rock resistance at the cost of almost all of its proper defensive utility due to not being able to run an item. The physical attack is nice into a few matchups, but the lack of Close Combat or any reliable Fighting STAB really limits its effectiveness in general use. Low Kick does have its strong matchups due to the heavy weight nature of most ubers, but due to the lack of strong physical coverage moves for MMX to effectively utilize, it does tend to prefer a Mixed set anyways. Granted it does have a large pool of physical coverage moves, but they tend to be very weak and/or unreliable (Stone Edge...) and thus running their special counterparts will still be preferred in most matchups (E.g, The elemental punches vs Tbolt , Flamethrower, and Ice Beam).

This may seem like an out of place rant, but this was the result of hours of my life of arguing I would probably take back if I could. There are other sides to this argument of course, and this mon could in some cases be justified as 28/27 points (by some people) but I'm not in that boat. Is it draftable? Yes, but due to reasons listed above I would still be aware of the potential upsides as well as downsides (love you Nyx <3, love Aber and Frito even more on this one).

Frito would like to add that "this Pokémon is Deo-A tier." Do with that what you will.

Mega Salamence
This one is about as simple as they come, powerful Dragon Dance mon with insane stats and a bad Ice weakness. Notable for forcing a Speed tie on many Arceus formes, as well as being able to take a Will-O-Wisp (provided one runs Facade). Note that it can occasionally run mixed or even full special sets to great effect, but is much more reliable as a straight up physical powerhouse, often gaining entry in its pre-Mega form due to Intimidate.
Palkia, and its Origin Forme
Very nice STAB combination as well as a very strong Speed tier allowing for effective Scarf sets, and sometimes breaker sets with Specs. If you are feeling spicy try out your hand at a Bulk Up+Scale Shot set. This also marks our first significant appearance of multiple Pokémon formes useable from the same draft pick, where in Palkia's case it trades physical attack for the ability to force Arceus formes into a Speed tie. Not the most impactful, but more then useable in many matchups. It does have a tendency to struggle against many common special walls however.
Giratina, and its Origin Forme
Giratina has got some really useful defensive sets, packing Defog, Dragon Tail, Toxic, and Will-O-Wisp which are very effective at crippling many offensive threats while also being one of the few forms of hazard removal that doesn't entirely regret it. Its strong STAB combination allows it to run effective offensive when paired with its coverage options. Its standard forme is very strong with Sub CM/CM Rest sets, with the Origin forme opting for more direct offensive sets. However the lack of consistent recovery hurts a mon like Giratina that really likes to lean defensive, while it also has very exploitable weaknesses as most teams should have a good Dark, as well as strong Fairy/Ice coverage options, if not Ghost STAB themselves.
Rayquaza
Rayquaza just has a lot of really cool sets lol, the addition of U-Turn helps it gain momentum, especially on choiced sets while its setup options like SD and DD are consistently strong. Along with a lot of strong special coverage and Extreme Speed (ESpeed), the only real downsides with Rayquaza is the Rocks weakness and an unfortunately middling Speed tier. 95 base Speed used to be good, but it just doesn't really cut it as much in the modern day (see Kyurem White).
Mega Metagreoss
Very few ubers benefitted nearly as much as Mega Metagross did from the Indigo Disk DLC, with Metagross gaining many strong new tools such as a reliable STAB in Psychic Fangs, plus new coverage in Knock Off and Trailblaze. It functions very well as a fast offensive steel type, that is capable of setting rocks and providing general support to many teams. It also is very valuable in forcing certain prep from Xerneas and Arc Fairy. Its main weaknesses arise in the lack of an item slot and being soft checked by a large majority of Arceus formes. However, its positives largely outweigh the negatives considering the cost.
Deoxys-Attack, Deoxys
If your interest in Mewtwo begins and ends at nuking power, look no further. Deoxys-Attack is a tactical nuke sent from space with whatever coverage you want, Knock Off, Spikes, and ESpeed for good measure. The bulk is in the negatives, but when you are able to just kill whatever you want when it hits the field, why do you care. Deoxys is only listed here as a budget form of Deo-A, not what you should aim for but a nice backup for teams Deo-A fits on well. Obligatory mention that outspeeding Arceus is a STRONG vice, and this applies to almost any Pokémon listed from here on out.
Mega Lucario
Mega Lucario offers a different approach to the offensive Steel type, completely throttling any Fairy that dare underspeed it while smacking the ones that do with a thick Bullet Punch. It also has access to ESpeed which is is equally as powerful into neutral targets. Its coverage and high powered Fighting STAB + equally viable special options lets it check effectively any Pokémon that underspeeds it as it chooses. That being said, its frailty holds it back a fair amount from achieving its true potential in such a high powered format.
Pheromosa
Pheromosa offers... well not much. But it excels in its role, which is to be a high-speed high-powered mixed cleaner that has snowball potential if used right. The fast pivoting lets it help bring in other teammates if a threat to Phero's clean still exists. It Suffers from the same issue as Deoxys-A as it is exceedingly frail, but at least it looks damn good doing so.
Mega Blaziken
Mega Blaziken does everything Life Orb Blaziken wishes it could do, which is in fact doing the same things while not holding a Life Orb. Speed Boost lets it be a incredibly potent sweeper as the infamous Fire/Fighting STAB often lets it force switches to get a Swords Dance up relatively effortlessly in many matchups. Unfortunately it is as good as it is predictable. While its Special Attack is more then serviceable, seeing a Mega Blaziken in the teambuilder means your opponent more then likely will be able to prep for your exact sets, therefore limiting your ability to sweep. Its Fire STAB often being resisted by common Dragon types leaves it hoping that a boosted Low Kick/CC will be enough to kill, lest Mega Blaziken gets obliterated.
Magearna
Closing out this lengthy section, Magearna packs the strong utility of being one of the better Steels in the format with the offensive prowess of the Fairy type. Packing a large variety of sets from setup, to more utility based TWave/Spikes spam set (and even access to Volt Switch), it will consistently provide solid impact in any game it comes to. Despite its lack of reliable recovery leaving it stuck with Pain Split and Draining Kiss, Magearna tends to be drafted sooner then one might expect due to its coveted typing and utility options.

Ubers you will still likely plan around

woof. That's a lot of writing. This is well over the 5k word count at this point, meaning I've written more for this then almost all of my academic essays combined (thanks COVID for messing with my schooling schedule, and thanks to you for keeping reading! Still a lot more to come, so keep going! You can do this! I believe in you!).

Up next we have the last set of ubers I would say one properly "plans" around drafting, meaning they aren't super splashable and often providevery key aspects to the teams they are on, but still have just as notable flaws to counteract this.
Arceus Electric, Psychic, and Grass
These Arceus Formes are largely unique due to the fact that they are relatively splashable (as long as you take their type and how it fits a team into consideration) that function well on teams that do not yet have an Arceus. Notably Grass does have the most crippling weaknesses of the three, but if you can account for those its not not worth drafting.

It needs be remarked that Arceus Electric will often be highly praised due to the fact it gets STAB on one 1/2 of the coveted BoltBeam combo, however due to the fact that all teams should have a viable ground this severely hampers its performance.
Zygarde
This has to be made 100% clear, because if I don't mention Zygarde now people will wonder why it hasn't yet been brought up. Zygarde is just notably pretty bad. It's hard to get Zygarde into its complete form, and while admittedly it eats a lot of Ice hits that it has no right surviving, the 4x Ice weakness is still a death sentence in an Arceus laden format. The lack of coverage (not that it needs it, but sometimes Thousand Arrows PP can prove to be a problem) and recovery options outside of Leftovers and Rest hurt as well. Will it skill issue someone? Probably, but it's rarely worth the effort required to enable it successfully.

On the off chance you are considering using Zygarde 10% as the starting forme, let me hopefully be the only person who has to tell you not to. It's not good. Quite the opposite in fact. One could say it's dogshit...

Reshiram
Basically a lesser version of Kyurem White, but trade out the Ice STAB (and coverage) for Fire STAB and the lack of the Ice type. Its an effective special breaker, with access to a few useful moves like Will-O-Wisp, and Defog. The Ground and Rocks weaknesses are especially notable here.
Solgaleo
One of the more notable lower tiered ubers (in my opinion), Solgaleo is packed to the brim with useful utility moves like Knock Off and TWave which make for a nice set of tools to allow it to be a strong bulky pivot with Teleport, with options to run offensive if you so desire. Access to recovery in Morning Sun makes it even better at its role, and it sometimes goes relatively early in a draft due to its useful tools being an asset on many teams.
Dialga, and its Origin Forme
A versatile option for a Special attacker that comes equipped with Rocks and TWave similar to Solgaleo, albeit without the Fairy/Ice resistance the Steel type so desperately wants, along with the lack of recovery. However Dialga has an easier time utilizing its unique offensive options, even having viable Bulk Up and Trick Room sets.

Don't run Dialga's Origin Forme. It is bad. The Sp. Def boost is basically useless in every relevant scenario. This is the only Pokémon I have given an analysis that I will outright say to never use under any circumstances.

Mega Blastoise
Mega Blastoise is without a doubt the most threatening Shell Smash sweeper in the tier, and if off of this information alone it interests you I highly recommend it! Take note that it always gets outsped by Scarf Marshadow even at +2. If you do not take this into account you will lose a game to this. But besides that, make sure you run Shell Smash if you bring this Pokémon, because without it you are paying 23 points for a 14 point mon, arguably less. Be aware it does have a tendency to just barely miss out on important KOs, so keep that in mind when setting it up for an endgame scenario.
Kyurem Black
Kyurem Black is a menacing Dragon Dance sweeper with Ice STAB that is Rocks weak, but wants to run Loaded Dice to have max power. Run at your own risk, but brutal when it gets going. Kyurem Black can also viably run Choice Band sets, and technically has access to Kyurem's nice array of Special Attacks, but these will likely not accomplish as much.
Basculegion
Basically only useable in rain. At the end of the day Basculegion is an exceedingly strong rain breaker/cleaner that has ridiculous sweep potential if left as one of the last mons alive with rain active, but count the number of conditions that have to be in place for that. Good when its supported, but doing so is difficult to accomplish.
Genesect
Genesect sets itself apart as a very versatile offensive mon, with incredible coverage, and a powerful tool in Download as a boosting ability. This can be taken advantage of in prep to allow Genesect to get a boost for its chosen form of attacks, often allowing it to cross the threshold from 2HKOs, to reliable OHKOs against its frailer targets. STAB U-Turn is a powerful tool in a meta infested with strong Psychic types, and options like Shift Gear, ESpeed, and the power of being an offensive Steel-Type into strong Fairies provide it with a powerful yet splashable niche many teams will appreciate. Its only drawbacks are the relative frailty for a Steel type which often necessitates a secondary Steel if a team wants one as a defensive answer. Genesect also barely misses out on that 100 Speed stat meaning occasionally other scarfers can outpseed it.
Zamazenta, and Zamazenta Crowned
Coming back around to another 2 for 1 pick, Zamazenta lets you choose between being a speedy fighting type that gets the jump on many crucial mons such as Arceus with somewhat respectable power backing it up. However it it chooses, it can forgo an item in return for the Steel-Type, allowing it to resist Dragon and hit Fairies with STAB super effective hits, a feat few Fightings in the tier can offer. While these along with powerful Body Press sets may seem like strong positives, the reality is Zamazenta often struggles to hit as hard as it wants to, and a lack of recovery leaves the this mon often wanting more.
Flutter Mane
Flutter Mane is in a unique position where it manages to both be incredible, but shockingly mediocre at the same time. Its Speed tier gives it a very strong niche as a blazingly fast offensive Ghost type, but it struggles with reliably landing vital OHKOs and its frailty leaves it open to being revenged by opposing Scarfers and priority. It pairs well with Groudon as a source of Speed control due to Protosynthesis, allowing it to outspeed nearly the entire tier while boasting a powerful STAB combination.
Lugia
Lugia is defined as a Pokémon by the viability of stall in any given meta it plays in. That is to say, in Gen 9 it kinda be bad. Its relative passivity and lack of offensive options compared to other tanky ubers such as Giratina severely limits its ability to have consistent impact on a game, despite having access to reliable recovery and a strong ability in Multiscale. It is incredibly vulnerable to status, and overall is dangerous to run on teams not tailor made for it.
Chien-Pao
Chien-Pao packs a fantastic offensive type combination allowing it to throttle the tiers best Psychics, Ghosts, Dragons, and Flyings with relative ease. It can land vital OHKOs against Pokémon like Eternatus when paired with a Choice Band; and its Speed tier also scores it the ability to outspeed Arceus formes, while leaving space for EV investment elsewhere if desired. Obviously the biggest problem with it is the Rocks weakness and general frailty, as it struggles to stay alive long enough to properly check what it wants to, especially when it is often forced to drop Boots in favour of raw power.

Lesser Used Ubers and Notable Standard Mons

This section is largely dedicated to Pokémon that are ubers on the merit of being too powerful for Nat Dex standard draft, but not really strong enough to consistently make it in the ubers scene. As to flesh the section out a bit more, I will include the most prominent non-uber picks that have a strong niche in keeping many common ubers in check, notably in ways that differ from their usage in standard draft.
Arceus Rock, Fire, Ice, and Bug
Finally we touch upon the last of the Arceus formes. Arceus Rock, Fire and Ice all provide useful offensive capability (albeit limited by their less then good defensive typings). Rock has unique access to a very strong special Rock STAB Judgment, allowing it to effectively run both special CM and SD/DD Ground/Rock combos. Ice is just a good offensive type overall but suffers the defensive atrocity that is the Ice Type. Fire is also somewhat unique, as the only Arceus form naturally immune to Will-O-Wisp allowing it to run very effective SD/DD sets with the addition of Flare Blitz at the cost of survivability and an increased likelihood of being revenged.

Arceus Bug has key resistances in Fighting and Ground, which on its own may justify its use on a team that does not comfortably fit something like Arceus Flying with its plethora of common weaknesses. This does not mean Arceus Bug is a good Arceus forme, but this niche does give it some use. It can run Calm Mind sets, but due to the rather terrible nature of Bug STAB (with the exception of tearing into the tiers Psychic types) Arceus Bug is often forced into needing Earth Power/Flamethrower to account for its weaknesses.
Darkrai
A decent fast attacker with good access to status, lots of coverage and setup options, notably being a viable user of Hypnosis (as OU has shown us). Darkrai does tend to struggle with hitting hard enough, and thus ends up relying on its own status or its teammates to capitalize off of the weaknesses it creates. It can run Scarf and Specs sets as well.
Mega Kangaskhan
While 200 damage Seismic Tosses is an appealing option, Arceus puts a real damper on that when it both outspeeds Kangaskhan effortlessly and barely has to run HP to tank the hits and hit Kanga back harder. While Kangaskhan isn't lacking in utility such as Wish to help it support its teammates, you will often be left questioning how much it is worth expending your Mega pick on this Pokémon.
Naganadel
Naganadel is a speedy special attacker being a Dragon type able to effectively hit opposing Fairies for super effective damage. It doesn't have the most coverage, but similar to Eternatus it makes Poison/Dragon/Fire work very well. While it sometimes struggles to hit hard enough, Beast Boost gives it natural snowball potential along with Nasty Plot and Scarf sets, while Specs could also be used in certain Arceus Matchups. It has access to U-Turn and Toxic Spikes to help diversify its movepool. Despite these strong traits it can sometimes struggle due to a lack of general power, and is tiered accordingly.
Necrozma Dawn Wings
Dawn Wings will fittingly be the last proper "uber" that is mentioned here. Its mediocre Speed and defensive typing leaves it vulnerable to many different forms of counterplay. While it has some good tools like Stealth Rock and Knock Off, also packing viable-ish offensive sets like Scarf, Specs, CM, or Rock Polish. It is more a Pokémon you draft because its free and forces prep, not because it is the glue to fit your team together.

A slight break, because from here on out this list will cover non uber Pokémon. They will be covered if their niche is notably different from in standard draft, if they function as exceptional counters to many prevalent ubers, or provide unique support options to a team.

Landorus Therian
Good ol' reliable. Lando T provides exceptional role compression as a strong ground, a good pivot, a good utility mon with Defog, Knock Off and Stealth Rocks, all while being a check to many of the oppressive physical attackers on the board with Intimidate and Rocky Helmet. However that's not to underrate its offensive sets as it can still hit many ubers for plenty of damage due to its sky high attack stat. But to revisit its defensive options, Lando is able to provide an answer to many physical Arceus formes, offensive Groudon, Zacian, and can even threaten things like a Blaziken sweep as well. Never to be underestimated regardless of the format, Lando-T is consistently one of the best, if not the defining non uber pick in this tier.
Garchomp
As another consistently reliable Pokémon, Garchomp provides valuable utility and offensive power to a team, and functions as a good "low tier" Ground type. Added access to Spikes this generation also gives it an advantage as a speedy hazard setter that gets a crucial jump on the large amount of base 90-100 Dragons that exist in the tier.
Mega Scizor
An excellent bulky Steel-Type that often serves as a very important asset of a team it finds itself on. However it is important to keep in mind that Scizor does not function well as a "check all" to the common Dragons and Fairies in the format, as lots of them have powerful coverage options to take it out, however it can use these threats as entry to provide momentum for its stronger teammates. Bullet Punch is also a powerful tool to revenge kill many common Pokémon. As long as you are aware that Mega Scizor is often unable to outright "counter" the Pokémon it resists and instead provides ample opportunity for its teammates to take these threats out, you will be happy to have it as your Mega slot.
Tapu Fini
Tapu Fini's good natural bulk with a strong defensive typing alone allows it to check many of the tiers offensive threats, even despite its lack of reliable recovery. Misty Surge allows it and its teammates to be immune to status, and can prove to be a strong glue for the teams its on, especially physical offense. Nature's Madness, Taunt, and Defog provide it other useful tools for dealing with many common scenarios. Few Pokémon appreciate the looming threat of Nature's Madness, and its Water STAB threatens mons like Ho-oh, especially if invested. The tools it has overall make it one of the few non-passive defensive mons in the format, as its attacking moves will often put in decent chip. Its biggest downside is often the lack of reliable recovery.
Dragapult
Dragapult stands out from the crowd of standard picks due to its incredible speed tier and access to dual status in Will-O-Wisp and TWave, as well as outspeeding all relevant Dragon-Types and Ghost-Types (minus Marshadow due to Shadow Sneak) and threatening them with its powerful STAB combination. While not as common, tools like screens also boost Dragapult's support viability, and overall Dragapult can serve a decent number of teams well.
Chi-Yu
Chi-Yu is a powerful sun breaker that should realistically only be drafted with Groudon. However if the two are paired together you gain access to an incredibly powerful STAB combination as it hits super hard with its Fire moves in sun and heavily slaps resists with Dark Pulse. Even though its power level (in sun) is unparalleled even by ubers standards, Chi-Yu is relatively slow and suffers heavily from its Rocks weakness.
Tapu Koko, Zapdos, and Rotom-Wash
While these Pokémon all function differently within the niche of the "support Electric-Type", I have chosen to put them all together for conciseness. All three of these provide their team with reliable pivoting and strong status spam, all packing TWave (with Rotom having Will-O-Wisp), and excellent abilities that make them all even better at their respective roles. Each also has access to Defog and Screens if so desired, a form of recovery (Pain Split is at its most effective in ubers where most of the pool has humongous HP stats), and options to punish Ground Types switching in on them (Koko using Grass Knot, Rotom-Wash using Hydro Pump, and Zapdos having UTurn/Hurricane). One thing to be aware of is that due to the higher power level of ubers the relative bulk of these mons is severely hampered, especially Tapu Koko which prefers to function as a fast frail enabler of Hyper Offense teams compared to the other two; and CM Life Orb/CM Iron Defense Koko has the ability to occasionally cause some problems. They are all tiered highly because of the immense value of their niche, and typings that give each of them consistent ways to get into play and start the disrupting process.
Galarian Slowking
Galarian Slowking (GKing) is a very special Pokemon in this tier, as it is one of the most surprising defensive checks to a large number of ubers:

Examples

• Xerneas (however it can tech night slash if it is physically invested)
• Palkia
• Eternatus
• Magearna
• Some Mewtwo Sets
• Kyurem White
• Reshiram
• And even more! genuinely, calc this thing into a lot of your matchups.

While the sets it needs to run to check these can sometimes differ, its vast special bulk and access to threatening moves like Future Sight, Sludge Bomb, and the addition of Chilly Reception and TSpikes make it a formidable defensive answer to many powerful special attackers. However a few of the more elite special attackers are able to threaten GKing, as well as most of the tiers strong physical attackers due to its exploitable weaknesses to Ghost and Ground which are both common coverage.
Shaymin Sky
Shaymin Sky doesn't have too much going for it, it is very fast and has the ability to win out games on RNG alone. Seed Flare and Earth Power are reliable moves that you will see it run often, and Substitute + Leech Seed sets and the various powder utility moves it has will get someone mad at you. If you like your opponent more then you like seeing them get angry, you can also let this mon be a fast Healing Wish bot. It could honestly be lower, but how cheap are we going to let Aberforth luck everyone in the tournament for?
Mega Alakazam
Mega Alakazam is a super fast super strong Special mon, not too complicated to understand. It utilizes Nasty Plot and Barrier to force itself into positive matchups, however does suffer from the many more strong Psychics in the format such as Deoxys, and Deoxys-Attack (which directly outclass it) giving it competition for a spot on many teams. The legalization of Pursuit and its proclivity to getting revenged by Scarfers leaves it vulnerable to many common Pokémon.
Corviknight
Established draft players will immediately notice how seemingly overpriced Corviknight its, and in theory, this makes sense. Corv at a glance has relatively mediocre defensive stats, relying heavily on its coveted typing to carry it as a defensive Pokémon. However Corv overcomes this as its toolkit is incredibly well crafted to allow it to threaten some of the most powerful mons this meta has to offer. It causes a lot of problems for many physical set up Arceus Forms, as well as Zacian, Zamazenta, and even some special Dragons it can come in on due to its Steel Typing. It also is a notable Xerneas check with a Sp. Def set, even with Xerneas having Thunder. Sure its no Ho-oh, but this mons access to Pivot*, Defog, Iron Defense, Body Press, and Taunt still gives it many consistent options to apply pressure to your oppositions threats.

*On U-Turn Corviknight

Just separating this out because this is one of the most important aspects of Corviknight's toolset. Similar to how Mega Scizor was described above, Corviknight alone will rarely be able to check the mons it switches into in any substantial offensive way. Its strongest value on most teams will be the fact that it is an incredible pivot into a teams stronger threats, and often clicking U-Turn is all it needs to accomplish. A Corviknight will rarely want to stay on the field for more then a couple of turns unless it can be an effective check and get a kill on the mon its in front of, or has a viable Body Press sweep. Overall Corv is definitely a strong addition to many teams if lacking a Steel type, and is a mon I'd at least recommend looking into.

Toxapex
Toxapex does what it loves to do in any gen, being able to function as a soft check to whichever sort of attacker it really wants to, by having ridiculous longevity as well as crippling them with Toxic or Burn. This generation it has a powerful niche as a reliable Toxic Spikes setter, which is very effective into a fast paced meta such as ubers. It also has important resists to Fairy and Ice, often forcing Arceus forms into running coverage they may not want to if Earthquake/Earth Power are difficult to fit. The mon has a tendency to get pressured by the ever popular Taunt, but increasing popularity in Infestation sets and access to Scald and Knock Off helps to somewhat patch this. It is still a tad passive, so it may not fit on every team, but is a strong asset to ones that benefit from its status spam and bulk.
Ting-Lu
To no ones surprise, Ting-Lu is a great bulky Ground and Dark type which specializes as a form of hazard control with Spikes and Stealth Rocks, as well as a powerful phaser with Whirlwind that still can dish out plenty of damage as Ruination and Earthquake have incredible coverage. If needed it also has the option to run some speed to outspeed some slower walls and Taunt them. It functions best at eating up the superpowered special hits the tier has to offer as well as effectively phasing out practically any setup sweeper that cant OHKO it. And you don't even have to discount its physical Defense as its massive HP pool lets it eat up hits from that end of the spectrum as well. Ting-Lu is a Pokémon that despite its perceived passivity it is very much able to sap momentum from your opponents as it halts sweepers and sets up Spikes for your offensive threats.
Ferrothorn
Ferrothorn is an excellent bulky Steel that puts pressure on the opponents through a variety of options to inflict chip damage and status. Being a reliable setter of Stealth Rocks, Spikes, and having access to Leech Seed means it can use its bulk to generate long term momentum for its offensive teammates. Having access to Knock Off and TWave are also invaluable tools for crippling opposing offense. The main downsides here is that if played carelessly Ferrothorn has a tendency to sap momentum from a game, as well as take a lot of chip damage over time that it struggles to recover from Leech Seed and Leftovers alone.
Klefki
As shown with many previous Pokémon on this list, being a consistent Hazard Setter with TWave will get you pretty far, and Klefki brings this to the next level with an incredible typing and the Prankster ability. This allows it to be a crucial part of supporting offensive threats as its relentless spamming of Spikes/Screens/Twave and even Foul Play can often do wonders in the right matchup.
Scream Tail
What Scream Tail lacks in Spikes and a Steel typing compared to Klefki, it makes up for in recovery and fast Encore. Its sheer bulk allows it to scare many threats with TWave, while passing a Wish or Screens to a teammate to further enable them. It does have the problem where it is often at risk of being more passive then Klefki, but it has a place in some teams nonetheless.
Porygon2 and Blissey
These are grouped together due to being good bulky Normal types with access to recovery and Teleport, as well as TWave. Which teams each one fits on may depend on the exact composition (E.g, Porygon2 functions better on teams that prefer a mixed defensive pivot while Blissey can blank any special attacker) but overall both will be able to come in against and Pivot around many strong threats in the tier.
Alolan Muk
Alolan Muk is a very good special defensive option if your team struggles into powerful special-based Psychics and Ghost-Types. Its access to Knock Off and Pursuit means that even when switching out A-Muk can still have a consistent impact on many Pokémon, and few will enjoy having Poison Touch trigger when hit by its physical attacks.
Slowbro
Slowbro is a nice physical tank, with Teleport, Scald, and Future Sight giving it many ways to threaten the Pokémon that it switches into and vice versa. Its obviously a fair amount weaker on the Sp. Def side then Toxapex, but its prowess as a Physically Defensive Pokémon warrant a placement in this section. It functions as a good side grade to Toxapex, trading TSpikes and Sp. Def for access to Teleport.
Urshifu Single-Strike
The combination of Urshifu's breaking and cleaning ability from its strong Speed tier into the base 90-95 Speed ubers and uses its STABs to tear them apart. Its physical bulk is high enough it is able to take some absurd hits and OHKO right back with a Choice Banded Close Combat. Its a simple use, but a pretty good one nonetheless.
Weavile
Weavile is at its most basic a worse Chien-Pao, with the main advantages being access to Knock Off, Pursuit, and Triple Axel. Its speed tier alone can help justify it on many teams as a way to deal with pesky items and nab things like revenge kills or clean OHKOs.
Ogerpon, and her Mask Formes
First off, the lack of Tera is a massive downgrade, and none of the formes are particularly amazing. Ogerpon-Wellspring has a very nice Water immunity, but in general you can often find better breakers with less awkward Speed tiers. If you are interested in Ogerpon for its utility like Knock Off, Spikes, and Pivoting, there are also other options that tend to fit teams better. It is priced due to its versatility and the fact each forme requires slightly different measures to most effectively check.
Great Tusk
Great Tusk's biggest weakness is the fact most ubers have respectable special attack stats and can use those to wipe Tusk clean off the face of the earth. It does provide a strong source of role compression, but because of this lack of an ability to reliably stay in and stay alive vs most of the Pokémon in ubers it ultimately falters when compared to many other Pokémon that can do what it does.

Other Pokémon with Niches

This will just be a rapid fire list of other Pokémon worth drafting and experimenting with that have been proven to have solid usage in the tier, none outstanding in their role but definitely worth being aware of if you are unsure of what is able to be viably used.
- It can Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, and does both well with good speed and STABs. Nyx likes Will-O-Wisp, Aberforth and Frito don't.
- Xerneas checks that can set hazards.
- Xerneas check that instead keeps hazards up.
- Faster Encore with a good STAB combo for this format.
- Good revenge killer that has a typing that allows it to take some hits well. Has Healing Wish.
- Fast versatile offensive mons, with fast Spikes/TSpikes, Taunt, Pivot, and in Meow's case Knock Off.
- The best Magic Bounce user. Pairs incredibly well with Ho-Oh to keep Rocks away to enable its Scarf and Banded sets.
- A good Magic Bounce user, that also has healing wish and status moves like Nuzzle.
- The fastest Pokemon anyone should be using, Taunt, Hazards, and Toxic let it shut down opposing utility and status Arceus formes.
- Good sun breakers to draft with Groudon.
- Good attacker that sets Psychic Terrain for Deoxys and Mewtwo formes. If you draft Indeedee over this, sorry.
- Fast Taunt, and Knock Off, whose Speed lets it function well in some scenarios.
- Does what it does in standard formats, but with the increased value of hazards in ubers, Glimmora's value likewise increases.
- Able to set hazards, Click Knock Off, and put just enough of a stop in some threats to cripple them with its kit.
- A reliable way to get Spikes on the field.
- Healing Wish, but aren't that incredible outside of that in most cases.
- A decent enough (albeit niche) bulky Ground with hazards that can blanket check many (but not all) special attackers. Very passive.
- Shed tail, however Scarf Cyclizar is the only one that realistically can click the move.
-The most viable rain setter, vital if one plans on drafting Basculegion.
- A nice enabler for offensive Pokémon, side grade to Klefki in the screens department but lacks hazard control.
- Veil and Encore, you should know what it does but it is useful for H/O teams.
- In a format filled with setup spamming ubers, the chance to steal your opponents boosts can occasionally be deadly.
- Surprisingly useful tanks with strong Wish-passing, DLC additions make Alomomola much more viable.
- Able to withstand many of the special Dragons that plague the format, and has Defog + Aromatherapy.
- If your team loses that badly to Zacian, this will fix all your problems. (It can also check other physical attackers).

Hopefully this should provide you with an ample start in what you are considering taking in your Ubers Draft. This list doesn't even come close to all of the Pokémon though, and due to the centralizing nature of Ubers a lot of lower tiers often go untouched and unrecognized, some of your favourites could have pretty useful niches and we just don't know because it never really has time to shine.

Wow. That was a lot of writing (if you somehow don't believe it, open the spoiler tags in this post and take a nice long scroll.) I hope you all enjoyed the read (regardless of how much of it you actually got through or not) and that this guide leaves you feeling a lot more comfortable and excited going into this awesome format.

A huge thanks to Nyx, Frito, Aberforth, and abriel for the help writing this, and Realzzz for helping with grammar things as well. I can't wait to see what you all cook up this tour!

 

[Celestiial]

If you have any questions, or points you would like to add I encourage you to respond to this thread or tag me in the Smogon Draft discord server! If not already evidenced by this behemoth, I love to ramble about all this.

 

[stopduckabuse]

Great comprehensive guide, I read all of it! (and I mean all of it xD)

 

[leafora!]

yeah, this is a really useful resource! no matter how experienced you are with the format, having such a comprehensive write-up to cross-reference is always nice. thank you a bunch!