VR UPDATE ~
Hello everyone, the VR council has recently concluded voting on the 6th VR slate, and here is the outcome. Most notably, an S- rank has been created as we found there were a few threats that stood above the rest of A+, yet didn’t have the prowess to qualify them a spot next to our broken trifecta.
RISES
A+ to S-. Personally never used it but sounds strong on paper
A+ to S- Nasty Z sets can just be dumb in general. ScarfDreigon Just kills draggy which is rising in usage
A to A+ One of few viable megas Rn so yes ofc
B+ to A- I mean. While Hex Z thunder sets are decent personally I find draggy struggles Against a lot of popular picks rn
B+ to A- Rain is incredibly strong rn especially with vish as a new abuset
B+ to A-
B- to A-
B+ to A-
B to B+ Meh
B to B+ Decent pick with wish support and a decent metagross check
B to B+ Solid in general
UR to C Good Defogger but is in competition with torn
UR to C Eh
UR to C Sure why not
Tornadus-T has proven to be among the metagame’s premier glues lately. It is our best offensive pivot by a landslide, and truly excels when it comes to making progress no matter what matchup it faces, in particular if it opts to run Knock Off. Slightly more offensively tailored sets are hugely potent presences as well, commonly running moves such as Heat Wave and Hidden Power Ice to overcome common checks such as Mega Metagross, Corviknight, and the rising Gliscor, as well as easing the matchup against a hard-to-check wallbreaker in Garchomp. Z-Focus Blast has made a few appearances as well due to the popularity of Mega Tyranitar, easily taking it out and thereby heavily disrupting the defensive integrity of these popular builds. The rise in rain usage has also been a great pluspoint, as Tornadus-T is a natural rain staple, as well as a great option to pressure these teams. Furthermore, it remains one of our best Defog users, almost facing no competition in this regard at all, apart from Tapu Fini on some builds. All in all, Tornadus-T is one of our frontrunners when it comes to sheer influence on the metagame and it proves to be very difficult to check and take advantage of, all the while providing heaps of defensive utility, resulting in a clear-cut rise.
Hydreigon has catapulted in usage over the past couple of weeks, as it is a harshly punishing wallbreaker with its Nasty Plot Z-Move sets, that also happens to offer significant utility in checking potent threats in Rotom-H, Heatran, Gliscor, and the rising Reuniclus, as well as ease the matchup against Ash-Greninja. Moreover, it is the tiers best Choice Scarf user alongside Galarian Darmanitan, offering very solid speed control in addition to its aforementioned checking prowess. These two sets have proven to be extremely splashable on a supermajority of our builds and have come to define our metagame to quite a significant degree, which was enough to convince a majority of the council for a rise to S-.
Mega Lopunny is our clear runner-up in the Mega Evolution slot, providing near unmatched speed control by virtue of its blistering Speed tier in combination with multiple forms of priority, while still proving to be quite the wallbreaker with its unresisted STAB combination. Not much has changed in particular, making this a long-time-coming rise.
Dragapult is a great form of natural speed control as well, and can hugely annoy teams in general with its ability to take advantage of many defensive Pokemon such as Tangrowth, Slowbro, and Gliscor, and hugely dent others in Tapu Fini and Toxapex with its Electrium Z set, which is a very valuable niche in a Galarian Darmanitan metagame. Dragon Dance Z-Ghost sets in particular have also seen an uptick in usage, as it is a phenomenal late-game cleaner provided the Z-Move is timed correctly, and notably eases the matchup against rain teams as well.
Rain has seen a huge uptick in usage in recent times, mainly due to Manaphy’s ability to completely run over the influx of stall, semi-stall, and bulky balances in the metagame, as well as completely negate traditional counterplay to Water-types with a ridiculously strong Tail Glow-boosted Hydro Vortex. Thus, the playstyle has been raised to A- with the rises of the mandatory Pelipper and Mega Swampert, with their main enabler in Manaphy joining them.
Serperior is a great anti-meta pick currently, being able to easily take advantage of and slice apart Tangrowth + Tapu Fini balances, cripple Tornadus-T with Glare, take out Rotom-H with a +2 Bloom Doom after some chip, and being a huge nuisance in general to many more defensive Pokemon with its Z-Leaf Storm Synthesis set, all of which compounds to a justified rise.
As a direct consequence of Manaphy’s prominence, Gastrodon was deemed worthy of a rise, as Clear Smog sets are one of the very few reliable counterplay options to non-Energy Ball Manaphy. In addition, it provides notable other perks as well, such as checking the everpotent Ash-Greninja and Heatran, as well as Volcarona, Magearna, and Rotom-H.
Alomomola has enjoyed great amounts of usage recently on multiple stall, semi-stall, and bulky balance builds due to its ability to severely restrict Galarian Darmanitan, reliably check Mega Metagross, and pivot into and scout Ash-Greninja at high health levels, while providing tremendous utility in Wish for a whole host of teammates, all in one slot.
Gengar is one of the metagame’s best breakers in general, in particular against teams relying on Chansey to hold their defensive integrity together. As these teams have been quite common lately, Gengar is in a relatively comfortable spot, which warranted a slight rise to reflect this.
Mandibuzz is a decent option on some teams currently, as it provides very unique characteristics in hard-checking notable threats in Dragon Dance Dragapult, Swords Dance Aegislash, and Nasty Plot Hydreigon, as well as soft-checking the likes of Kartana, Mega Alakazam, and Mega Metagross, all the while providing Defog support as well as a Dark-resistance against Ash-Greninja.
Terrakion’s mix of power, decent speed tier, and a great new addition of Megahorn to its flagship CB set grant it the ability to bust through common defensive cores with a singular correct prediction. Moreover, Terrakion also provides good value as a Stealth Rock setter that can take out Tangrowth without much effort and even as a Choice Scarf user that can reliably check Volcarona multiple times throughout a match while still maintaining the ability to revenge kill Metagross and Mega Charizard-X, among others.
s/o faded love
Tapu Koko has seen some use recently as the metagame is hopelessly looking for Tornadus-T switchins. It is a decent Mega Metagross enabler, boosting its Thunder Punch to the extent where Slowbro, Corviknight, and Alomomola fail to qualify as checks, and letting it negate Tangrowth’s Sleep Powder.
DROPS
A+ to A
A- to B+
B+ to B-
C to UR
C to UR
As time has passed, Clefable has proven to be harder and harder to fit on teams, as there are quite a few additional Stealth Rock setters, such as Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Mega Tyranitar, all of which compress more relevant checking prowess, and in Garchomp and Mega Tyranitar’s case, boast tremendous amounts of offensive presence as well. Mega Metagross’s continued griphold on the metagame also does it no favors at all, leading to a drop in viability.
Mega Slowbro is dropping as it faces quite some competition currently, both as a Mega Evolution and as a bulky Water-type. Typically, the fatter teams it resides on gain more value from Mega Evolutions such as Mega Latias and Mega Scizor, while the huge rise in Alomomola on these teams make Mega Slowbro a redundancy for the most part as well.
Ditto has lost a significant part of its niche after Mega Blastoise’s ban, and thus faces competition now from several other forms of Speed control in Galarian Darmanitan, Hydreigon, Mega Lopunny, and Dragapult. I personally did not agree with a drop all the way to B-, since it is still a great annoyance to the surplus in bulky builds in our metagame. Nevertheless, the council deemed a drop fitting, hence why it is dropping.
Both of these struggle to find a niche on their respective playstyles, as their niche is simply not valuable as of writing, or they are strictly outdone by better Pokemon.
Slate
Keep up with the nominations and stay safe!