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Regular VR
Gyarados-mega moves down to A+
Rayquaza-Mega moves above Groudon-Primal
Diancie-Mega moves above No Guard
Mewtwo-Mega-Y moves up to A- below Latios-Mega
Arceus moves up to B+
Abomasnow-Mega moves down to B
Metagross-mega moves up to B-
Aegislash moves down to C-
Yveltal moves up to C+
Garchomp-Mega moves down to C-
Pikachu moves down to UR (except it did a funny and went somewhere else)
Wonder Guard VR
Hoopa moves down to UR
Gengar @ gengarite moves down to C-
Skarmory moves down to C
Wobbuffet moves down to C
Drapion moves down to B-
Hoopa-unbound moves up to C+
Slaking moves down to below Audino-Mega
Arceus moves down to bottom of A+
Mewtwo-Mega-Y moves down to A above Scizor-Mega
Manectric-Mega moves down to a-
NEW A- ORDER is
Escavalier
Gengar-Mega
Gardevoir-Mega
Manectric-Mega
Sableye-Mega
Kyurem-White moves up to C
Palkia moves down to C-
Gyarados @ gyaradosite moves up to B+
Genesect to down to C-
I was kinda bored with standard Gen 7 builds (hard-ish offense, bulky balance, bulky offense if you can call MMX + shaky Imposter-proofer that), so I decided to try something new and stumbled upon Assist, which calls a random move that Pokemon on the team are running (apparently it chooses a random moveslot, rather than giving each move an equal chance to be chosen). It's traditionally been used in Gen 6/7 BH (I think) and Gen 9 Natdex AG, to call broken moves on broken mons (Thousand Arrows/V-create on Primal Groudon) and Revival Blessing with Liepard, respectively. The move has potential in Gen 7 PH for a few reasons:
- Being able to run any move in the game allows for multiple move options to build around (Thousand Arrows, V-create, Sunsteel Strike, etc.)
- Imposter users, which are very prevalent in Gen 7 PH, will call moves from their team's movepool, allowing the Assist user to more or less Imposter-proof themselves
- Assist cannot call all moves, and some that cannot be called are genuinely useful (CFZ moves like Searing Sunraze Smash and Light That Burns the Sky, Destiny Bond on Prankster users, Whirlwind/Circle Throw/Dragon Tail, Trick, protection moves, Chatter, etc.)
- Assist is a status move, and therefore is used by Prankster users with priority (meaning you can run Prankster Assist V-create if the rest of the team allows for it)
However, in principle, Assist teams are not without their disadvantages:
- Assist teams entail a specific team structure that cannot deviate from hard offense (anything short of extreme HO has trouble functioning without the ability to run hazards/Defog/Aromatherapy/pivoting/recovery/multi-PP setup moves like Shell Smash)
- CFZs are powerful but they also have 1 PP each, meaning you have to click the right button when using them (there is a high opportunity cost in running Leppa Berry, and there is no way to replenish said Leppa Berry without forgoing an Ability)
- Damage nukes' one-dimensionality means opposing setup sweepers with Spore/Lovely Kiss are dangerous
- You're stuck with 1 multi-PP nuke
I'll add more teams here if I decide on building with other passed moves in mind (Sunsteel Strike/Photon Geyser/Moongeist Beam/Dragon Ascent/Precipice Blades/Judgment). These can also probably be improved on since I haven't played with them extensively yet.
If I'm being honest though this might be working not because Assist itself is a legitimately good strategy, but because hard offense archetypes are underutilized and underprepared for (I'm not sure how one would even prep for multiple Huge Power CFZs being used in quick succession). People seem to believe that bulky balances seem are the most consistent teams in the metagame at the moment (and they're probably right), but non-MMX hard offense, especially those featuring Focus Sash breakers, seems like it could be explored more because of its better matchup against traditional revenge killers like Pixilate Mega Diancie, Choice Scarf Mega Rayquaza, and to an extent Imposter Chansey. I ran Primal Groudon because it's REALLY fat, not immediately forced out by Pixilate revenge-killers, Mega Rayquaza, and the like, is immune to burn, and can make use of Assist Thousand Arrows/V-create, but I'm sure other offensive Pokemon like NDM/MMY/Mega Rayquaza can be toyed with as well.
I like funny strategies, and Assist and spam are both very funny.
If I'm being honest though this might be working not because Assist itself is a legitimately good strategy, but because hard offense archetypes are underutilized and underprepared for (I'm not sure how one would even prep for multiple Huge Power CFZs being used in quick succession).
I totally agree. The spam part was annoying but could be played around with rocks, chip, etc. Additionally, the Assist strategy itself rarely ever made any progress, it was the CFZ spam that pushed games forward. Primal Groudon is also just... a really good Pokemon. It has annoying perfect bulk, living almost every hit on a sliver of health, resists Sunsteel Strike, and has great attack. I think Huge Power sets are somewhat underutilized, especially since you can easily improof with Ground-type Multi Attack.
But I was using experimental teams in those replays, with things like Multitype Arceus and Dual No Guard, so I can't say for certain how good this team is relative to the actual meta. The Dual No Guard team did significantly better and its certainly more conventional, so I'm curious to see how your team would fare against teams that are well-regarded and known to be formidable.
forgive me if this reads as off for i am sleep deprived lol
It's been a while since I've posted anything and I've been believably told the ORAS Pure Hackmons metagame is around 98% solved. I'm not the best or most active player but I've seen much of this metagame's development and have jumped into ladder and friendly matches relatively often, especially in the recent months. Looking into the viability rankings, I've looked into the Viability Rankings lately and have shared my thoughts on them in Old Sharl, as I believe a good notable bit can be changed about these viability rankings from how they look. I've decided to share these same thoughts as a post here just for fun, and to possibly promote further discussion on this.
These are my nominations:
Wonder Guard Viability Rankings
Drops
Primal Kyogre - S -> A+
Primal Kyogre is great and all but it doesn't hold up as a defining Wonder Guard in the metagame. It was put in S rank during the phase where Xern + Pogre + Giratina was the dominant core of the metagame, but the emergence of Mega Gyarados has made Primal Kyogre fairly redundant to use as a Wonder Guard in comparison to the other S ranks. It also doesn't really have anything to stand out as a top tier Wonder Guard. Its speed tier is weird for pivoting, its HP isn't that high, it's not so physically bulky, its special bulk is relatively overshadowed by Blissey. At most it was a Primal Groudon check, but we have Pokemon outside Wonder Guard who serve this better than Primal Kyogre. I'd say it's about Arceus-level effectiveness.
Deoxys-Attack - A+ -> idk. B+ or lower. This one confuses me.
I haven't seen or used this thing but there's no way Deoxys-Attack warrants being this high. It's far too frail to where it dies to anything upon being hit, whether by Mold Breaker or a super effective move, cannot escape Pursuit Gyarados by any means, and generally does nothing except act as an overall nuke during the rare moments it can. It's not a consistent Wonder Guard and would have to go out of its way to do anything meaningful in many games.
Rises
Audino-Mega -A+ -> S
It might look biased coming from me, whose favorite Pokemon is Audino, but I sincerely believe this is a premier Wonder Guard in the metagame and a definitive S rank. There are several things that amount to this. First of all, it is the best pivoter in the entire game, capable of building a ton of momentum against any other great Wonder Guard whenever necessary in order to switch into any sort of hard wallbreaker or sweeper. This is a valuable position every other Wonder Guard wishes it could hold. It's also one of the best wishpassers and clerics in the entire game, possibly the best one, with the bulk to take hits from both non choiced physical and offensive attackers and provide general recovery through Defog, Wish, or Aromatherapy. Its type combination is quite fascinating, allowing its sole weaknesses to be of moves that are often risky to use, and it can run moves to enact as support more freely than Xerneas can, as Mega Audino beats out Xerneas in most aspects necessary for a Wonder Guard. I've been carried by this Wonder Guard so many times it's not even funny. More about Mega Audino's individual traits can be found in this post, which I believe holds up at least somewhat even to this day: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-hackmons-megathread.3649618/page-10#post-8938233
Next up, because Mega Gyarados's emergence, the Xerneas, Primal Kyogre, and Giratina core have mostly lost a ton of relevance. Xerneas's Moonblast no longer matters as much anymore as Mega Gyarados threatens both Giratina and Primal Groudon simultaneously. This gives a reasonably high excuse to run Mega Audino over Xerneas in a lot of scenarios when playing the metagame. In addition, Xerneas tends to be strictly used as a Sub and/or SmashPasser Wonder Guard, as opposed to Mega Audino, who is arguably the best Wonder Guard to use in the game when you aren't in need of a Sub/Smash Passer. Xerneas also now faces competition with Mega Gengar as a SubPasser, and is more easily dismantled by Shadow Tag users than both Mega Audino and Mega Gengar thanks to being a Sub/Smash Passer without Ghost-type.
An additional factor comes from seeing through this metagame's development.
Mega Audino has stood the test of time too consistently as a Wonder Guard for anything below S rank to be reasonable imo. It is frequently at around 15+% usage, only falling as low as 6% in a very few amount of months, during the times when Xerneas + Pogre + Giratina was the main strategy. Since then, including the recent months, and during many other occasions prior to the Xerneas + Pogre + Giratina era, it became the most used Wonder Guard in the entire 1760 portion of the ladder. Even when Xerneas shows to have higher usage as a Pokemon, the percentage of said Xerneas being Wonder Guard is regularly much lower than Mega Audino. Mega Audino has almost always been one of the defining Wonder Guards in the metagame, and as of now, even the general opinion of other established high ladder players in the format is in agreement that Mega Audino should be an S rank Wonder Guard. It's arguably the most consistent Wonder Guard in the game, with its flaws not being as much of a hindrance as even the other Wonder Guards within S rank. Xerneas is more threatening offensively, but is easier to crack down with Trick, easier to crack down with Shadow Tag, and can often be taken advantage of by slower Wonder Guards like Mega Audino. Blissey can heal more HP with Wish and can take special attacks like a champ, but is otherwise redundant. It suffers a liability of not being able to take physical attacks very well at all in a metagame dominated by physical attackers. None of these Wonder Guards are perfect, but those three are the best ones.
Miscellaneous
Wonder Guards should be ranked alphabetically instead of by viability. The case with Wonder Guards in Generation 6 is too situational for there to be a Wonder Guard you should always use above the rest, the top 3 have similar levels of effectiveness with shortcomings that will have you using different Wonder Guards sometimes. Blissey heals way better than Mega Audino when it's able to, Xerneas is the best SubPasser in the metagame, and Mega Audino is the most well-rounded Wonder Guard, being able to fit into the most situations. Mega Audino to be the best at being a normal default Wonder Guard, but there will be times where either more healing or more offense from a Wonder Guard is desired, creating situations where either Blissey and/or Xerneas would be the more consistent to use at times.
Regular Viability Rankings
Drops
Mewtwo-Mega-X - S- -> A+
Don't get me wrong, Mega Mewtwo X is fantastic, but in this day and age, it's shown to be in an environment where it doesn't really stand out above the A+ rank Pokemon. Mega Gyarados, Primal Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza are all just about as insane if not a little more insane in the metagame than Mega Mewtwo X. These four aforementioned Pokemon are very easily among the most dominant non-Wonder Guards in the metagame aside from Giratina, but I haven't seen Mega Mewtwo X be more usable or more dominant in the game than the other three have over the past several months. It should be fine being on their level.
Rises
Lugia - C -> B
Probably the best Shadow Tag Perish Song user in the metagame and can be very threatening oftentimes, especially in the current era. From my usage of it, It seems to be really good on plentiful occasions. I see C rank as a rank where Pokemon are often niche, holding effectiveness every now and again, but Lugia is more consistent than that as with support, it can crack down lots of Wonder Guards by itself. This was initially a nomination for B-, but even that might be too low for Lugia, as this is a very solid Pokemon when used correctly. Comparatively, I see it as more consistent than all the current B- Pokemon and a Pokemon that should be used more frequently.
Miscellaneous
I mentioned that Wonder Guards should be in alphabetical order. If that happens I wouldn't be surprised if it affects the normal viability rankings as well. The Pokemon within each subrank, at least within the upper tiers, are relatively close to one another anyway and are nigh equal in effectiveness. This however, isn't what I'm making this section for.
I'm nominating for an addition of D Rank and possibly an ERank, as Gen 6 Pure Hackmons realistically allows a large myriad of Pokemon to be usable in the format even with the tiniest of niches to not be outclassed, but it currently isn't reflected on the Viability Rankings. The Viability Rankings seems more shallow than it should be for this metagame, as occasionally you see strategies like Prankster/Magic Bounce Shuckle, Huge Power/Magic Bounce Mega Audino, Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Slowbro, Hoopa-Unbound, and White Kyurem, etc take an occasional rise. These all have at least one thing its competition does not have, that allow them to be usable in very rare occurrences. They are not 100% outclassed. There's a lot of Pokemon that could reasonably go into D rank, and so many that can just run Prankster/Imposter/No Guard/Magic Bounce effectively that I had an E Rank created just for everything else when I led the resources. Adding these ranks would make the most accurate way to reflect what is truly usable in this format. White Kyurem not being there at all implies the Pokemon isn't usable in any way, when it can whip out a hard hitting STAB move in bigger range than Mega Latios and Mega Rayquaza and can occasionally be used as a sweeper. I don't think the lower half of the Viability Rankings truly reflects what this metagame is capable of at its fullest, but also believe that can be changed.
That is all I have for now. I have a lot of thoughts about the Gen 7 Viability Rankings as well, and will probably post them at some point in the near future.
Agree (Sorta) I think that Primal Kyogre could drop to top of A+ but not because of the reasons you said. Using Mega Gyarados as something that recently emerged makes no sense, because we've had a lot of changes in the VR because of Mega Gyarados, and if Primal Kyogre dropped a rank it wasn't because of Mega Gyarados. Primal Kyogre has the incredible trait of not being passive thanks to its Scalds/Steam Eruptions coming from a 180 Special Attack stat that allow it to threaten Mega Gengar and Primal Groudon, which it can beat.
There's a few reasons for why Primal Kyogre should drop, first of all, it loses to the best Mold Breaker, Mega Rayquaza. Not only that, but Mega Beedrill makes its life more than impossible, which right now is a terrible thing to be weak against.
Heavy Disagreement
Let's start with the first sentece. "I haven't seen or used this thing but there's no way Deoxys-Attack warrants being this high." This is bad, if you haven't even seen what a Pokemon does you shouldn't talk about it and don't get me wrong, I can talk about why Lumineon is bad in Pure Hackmons without much effort, but the given reasons are just wrong.
Yes, it's frail, but it outspeeds every unboosted Mold Breaker user, coverage moves such as Shadow Sneak might be a problem, but Mega Gengar also drops to every Huge Power boosted Shadow Sneak/Beat Up and you didn't decide to drop it. This problem is even lesser in Deoxys Attack because it can outspeed every common Huge Power user while Gengar speedties with Mega Mewtwo X. Saying that Deoxys-Attack cannot escape Mega Gyarados is fooling yourself, Deoxys Attack's best set is SubPass, which can escape by using Baton Pass. It's specially good at this role because it outspeeds Mega Beedrill and Mega Gengar while threatening them with Psystrike.
Agree I think that Mega Audino should be raised to bottom of S but I don't fully agree with the reasoning. I agree with the fact that it's the best pivot in the high ranks, but it's not a really good WishPasser, mostly because Wish has many problems by itself and even then Blissey just outclasses it as a cleric most of the time. WG Support Xerneas is a thing and Mooblast hits big targets such as Giratina, Mega Rayquaza, MMX and Mega Gyarados. Xerneas' strength also comes from the fact that it has there sets that are at worst decent while Mega Audino has only one.
WGs A-->Z Agree
This is going to avoid so many discussions about wheter a Wonder Guard is 3rd ror 4th in a certain rank
Agree
I believe that this was already known by many, it happened with MMY when it was S-, more than half of MMX's rank were the "good ol' days" and there's much more insane threats like Mega Rayquaza in the current meta
Stay in C/Drop to C-?
Lugia is the best Perish Song Trapper in the metagame, that's true but, beating Wonder Guards? How does it do that exactly? Most of the top Wonder Guards run Shed Shell, with the exceptions being Non-support Xerneas, Mega Beedrill, Deoxys-Attack, Mega Gengar, Mega Gardevoir and Mega Sableye, and most of those have tools to beat you anyway. Even worse, even Pokemon such as Mold Breaker Rayquaza and Mega Diancie can potentially run Shed Shell. One can make the argument of using Mold Breaker Tyranitar to support it, but we're talking about a really niche/specific structure here.
D and E Ranks Agree I agree with this idea but it should be stated somewhere that these are REALLY niche mons
forgive me if this reads as off for i am sleep deprived lol
It's been a while since I've posted anything and I've been believably told the ORAS Pure Hackmons metagame is around 98% solved. I'm not the best or most active player but I've seen much of this metagame's development and have jumped into ladder and friendly matches relatively often, especially in the recent months. Looking into the viability rankings, I've looked into the Viability Rankings lately and have shared my thoughts on them in Old Sharl, as I believe a good notable bit can be changed about these viability rankings from how they look. I've decided to share these same thoughts as a post here just for fun, and to possibly promote further discussion on this.
These are my nominations:
Wonder Guard Viability Rankings
Drops
Primal Kyogre - S -> A+
Primal Kyogre is great and all but it doesn't hold up as a defining Wonder Guard in the metagame. It was put in S rank during the phase where Xern + Pogre + Giratina was the dominant core of the metagame, but the emergence of Mega Gyarados has made Primal Kyogre fairly redundant to use as a Wonder Guard in comparison to the other S ranks. It also doesn't really have anything to stand out as a top tier Wonder Guard. Its speed tier is weird for pivoting, its HP isn't that high, it's not so physically bulky, its special bulk is relatively overshadowed by Blissey. At most it was a Primal Groudon check, but we have Pokemon outside Wonder Guard who serve this better than Primal Kyogre. I'd say it's about Arceus-level effectiveness.
Deoxys-Attack - A+ -> idk. B+ or lower. This one confuses me.
I haven't seen or used this thing but there's no way Deoxys-Attack warrants being this high. It's far too frail to where it dies to anything upon being hit, whether by Mold Breaker or a super effective move, cannot escape Pursuit Gyarados by any means, and generally does nothing except act as an overall nuke during the rare moments it can. It's not a consistent Wonder Guard and would have to go out of its way to do anything meaningful in many games.
Rises
Audino-Mega -A+ -> S
It might look biased coming from me, whose favorite Pokemon is Audino, but I sincerely believe this is a premier Wonder Guard in the metagame and a definitive S rank. There are several things that amount to this. First of all, it is the best pivoter in the entire game, capable of building a ton of momentum against any other great Wonder Guard whenever necessary in order to switch into any sort of hard wallbreaker or sweeper. This is a valuable position every other Wonder Guard wishes it could hold. It's also one of the best wishpassers and clerics in the entire game, possibly the best one, with the bulk to take hits from both non choiced physical and offensive attackers and provide general recovery through Defog, Wish, or Aromatherapy. Its type combination is quite fascinating, allowing its sole weaknesses to be of moves that are often risky to use, and it can run moves to enact as support more freely than Xerneas can, as Mega Audino beats out Xerneas in most aspects necessary for a Wonder Guard. I've been carried by this Wonder Guard so many times it's not even funny. More about Mega Audino's individual traits can be found in this post, which I believe holds up at least somewhat even to this day: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/old-gen-hackmons-megathread.3649618/page-10#post-8938233
Next up, because Mega Gyarados's emergence, the Xerneas, Primal Kyogre, and Giratina core have mostly lost a ton of relevance. Xerneas's Moonblast no longer matters as much anymore as Mega Gyarados threatens both Giratina and Primal Groudon simultaneously. This gives a reasonably high excuse to run Mega Audino over Xerneas in a lot of scenarios when playing the metagame. In addition, Xerneas tends to be strictly used as a Sub and/or SmashPasser Wonder Guard, as opposed to Mega Audino, who is arguably the best Wonder Guard to use in the game when you aren't in need of a Sub/Smash Passer. Xerneas also now faces competition with Mega Gengar as a SubPasser, and is more easily dismantled by Shadow Tag users than both Mega Audino and Mega Gengar thanks to being a Sub/Smash Passer without Ghost-type.
An additional factor comes from seeing through this metagame's development.
Mega Audino has stood the test of time too consistently as a Wonder Guard for anything below S rank to be reasonable imo. It is frequently at around 15+% usage, only falling as low as 6% in a very few amount of months, during the times when Xerneas + Pogre + Giratina was the main strategy. Since then, including the recent months, and during many other occasions prior to the Xerneas + Pogre + Giratina era, it became the most used Wonder Guard in the entire 1760 portion of the ladder. Even when Xerneas shows to have higher usage as a Pokemon, the percentage of said Xerneas being Wonder Guard is regularly much lower than Mega Audino. Mega Audino has almost always been one of the defining Wonder Guards in the metagame, and as of now, even the general opinion of other established high ladder players in the format is in agreement that Mega Audino should be an S rank Wonder Guard. It's arguably the most consistent Wonder Guard in the game, with its flaws not being as much of a hindrance as even the other Wonder Guards within S rank. Xerneas is more threatening offensively, but is easier to crack down with Trick, easier to crack down with Shadow Tag, and can often be taken advantage of by slower Wonder Guards like Mega Audino. Blissey can heal more HP with Wish and can take special attacks like a champ, but is otherwise redundant. It suffers a liability of not being able to take physical attacks very well at all in a metagame dominated by physical attackers. None of these Wonder Guards are perfect, but those three are the best ones.
Miscellaneous
Wonder Guards should be ranked alphabetically instead of by viability. The case with Wonder Guards in Generation 6 is too situational for there to be a Wonder Guard you should always use above the rest, the top 3 have similar levels of effectiveness with shortcomings that will have you using different Wonder Guards sometimes. Blissey heals way better than Mega Audino when it's able to, Xerneas is the best SubPasser in the metagame, and Mega Audino is the most well-rounded Wonder Guard, being able to fit into the most situations. Mega Audino to be the best at being a normal default Wonder Guard, but there will be times where either more healing or more offense from a Wonder Guard is desired, creating situations where either Blissey and/or Xerneas would be the more consistent to use at times.
Regular Viability Rankings
Drops
Mewtwo-Mega-X - S- -> A+
Don't get me wrong, Mega Mewtwo X is fantastic, but in this day and age, it's shown to be in an environment where it doesn't really stand out above the A+ rank Pokemon. Mega Gyarados, Primal Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza are all just about as insane if not a little more insane in the metagame than Mega Mewtwo X. These four aforementioned Pokemon are very easily among the most dominant non-Wonder Guards in the metagame aside from Giratina, but I haven't seen Mega Mewtwo X be more usable or more dominant in the game than the other three have over the past several months. It should be fine being on their level.
Rises
Lugia - C -> B
Probably the best Shadow Tag Perish Song user in the metagame and can be very threatening oftentimes, especially in the current era. From my usage of it, It seems to be really good on plentiful occasions. I see C rank as a rank where Pokemon are often niche, holding effectiveness every now and again, but Lugia is more consistent than that as with support, it can crack down lots of Wonder Guards by itself. This was initially a nomination for B-, but even that might be too low for Lugia, as this is a very solid Pokemon when used correctly. Comparatively, I see it as more consistent than all the current B- Pokemon and a Pokemon that should be used more frequently.
Miscellaneous
I mentioned that Wonder Guards should be in alphabetical order. If that happens I wouldn't be surprised if it affects the normal viability rankings as well. The Pokemon within each subrank, at least within the upper tiers, are relatively close to one another anyway and are nigh equal in effectiveness. This however, isn't what I'm making this section for.
I'm nominating for an addition of D Rank and possibly an ERank, as Gen 6 Pure Hackmons realistically allows a large myriad of Pokemon to be usable in the format even with the tiniest of niches to not be outclassed, but it currently isn't reflected on the Viability Rankings. The Viability Rankings seems more shallow than it should be for this metagame, as occasionally you see strategies like Prankster/Magic Bounce Shuckle, Huge Power/Magic Bounce Mega Audino, Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Slowbro, Hoopa-Unbound, and White Kyurem, etc take an occasional rise. These all have at least one thing its competition does not have, that allow them to be usable in very rare occurrences. They are not 100% outclassed. There's a lot of Pokemon that could reasonably go into D rank, and so many that can just run Prankster/Imposter/No Guard/Magic Bounce effectively that I had an E Rank created just for everything else when I led the resources. Adding these ranks would make the most accurate way to reflect what is truly usable in this format. White Kyurem not being there at all implies the Pokemon isn't usable in any way, when it can whip out a hard hitting STAB move in bigger range than Mega Latios and Mega Rayquaza and can occasionally be used as a sweeper. I don't think the lower half of the Viability Rankings truly reflects what this metagame is capable of at its fullest, but also believe that can be changed.
That is all I have for now. I have a lot of thoughts about the Gen 7 Viability Rankings as well, and will probably post them at some point in the near future.
I do agree with the majority of this post, in particular the alphabetization of Wonder Guard (and potentially regular) ranks and the creation of a D rank when the metagame is essentially in stasis forever. There are a few parts that I found questionable though, I'll work from the top down while trying not to repeat the above post's comments:
Deoxys-Attack - A+ -> idk. B+ or lower. This one confuses me.
I haven't seen or used this thing but there's no way Deoxys-Attack warrants being this high. It's far too frail to where it dies to anything upon being hit, whether by Mold Breaker or a super effective move, cannot escape Pursuit Gyarados by any means, and generally does nothing except act as an overall nuke during the rare moments it can. It's not a consistent Wonder Guard and would have to go out of its way to do anything meaningful in many games.
Deoxys-Attack functions very similarly to Mega Mewtwo Y, and its lack of bulk isn't much of a hindrance if at all - MMY isn't living many more hits than Deoxys-A is (especially when uninvested), as MMY loses to Pursuit -ate users and Shadow Sneak Regigigas after a couple rounds of Stealth Rock/Substitute chip. In fact, Deoxys' lack of bulk may even be a net positive if the user opts for Judgment on offensive sets. You also outspeed essentially every relevant unboosted non-Choice Scarf Pokemon, which gives it an important edge over MMY by allowing for greater consistency. Although Deoxys-A may indeed be ranked a little too high right now, that would be not so much due to its Wonder Guard-remedied frailty but because of fast Psychic-types not being as good as Deoxys-A's current ranking suggests.
Mewtwo-Mega-X - S- -> A+
Don't get me wrong, Mega Mewtwo X is fantastic, but in this day and age, it's shown to be in an environment where it doesn't really stand out above the A+ rank Pokemon. Mega Gyarados, Primal Groudon, and Mega Rayquaza are all just about as insane if not a little more insane in the metagame than Mega Mewtwo X. These four aforementioned Pokemon are very easily among the most dominant non-Wonder Guards in the metagame aside from Giratina, but I haven't seen Mega Mewtwo X be more usable or more dominant in the game than the other three have over the past several months. It should be fine being on their level.
I don't disagree with this but I do want to clarify my stance, as I've heard various opinions ranging from it staying in S- (?) and moving straight to flat A rank (???). Interestingly, I find it to be on par with Mega Rayquaza but better than Mega Gyarados overall, and am open to the idea that Mega Rayquaza is the 2nd most viable non-Wonder Guard in the game. I do think, however, that the best bet at the moment would be to keep it at or near the top of A+ because I personally find it to be about or nearly as splashable as other top threats, while also dominating a pervasive archetype that is near ideal against weaker players; MMX also boasts wider set variety than pretty much every other genuinely good Pokemon in the metagame (though much of this is No Guard/Wonder Guard sets and support Mold Breaker sets, while good and largely uncontested, are difficult to fit onto teams and not the most consistent).
Lugia - C -> B
Probably the best Shadow Tag Perish Song user in the metagame and can be very threatening oftentimes, especially in the current era. From my usage of it, It seems to be really good on plentiful occasions. I see C rank as a rank where Pokemon are often niche, holding effectiveness every now and again, but Lugia is more consistent than that as with support, it can crack down lots of Wonder Guards by itself. This was initially a nomination for B-, but even that might be too low for Lugia, as this is a very solid Pokemon when used correctly. Comparatively, I see it as more consistent than all the current B- Pokemon and a Pokemon that should be used more frequently.
Shadow Tag Perish Song users in general need to be built around and are only truly prolific in a small subset of matchups, as most good Wonder Guard sets have effective counterplay against Shadow Tag in the form of Shed Shells or Ghost typing. Lugia might be the best one (I personally think PerishTrap MMX is at least as good anyway), but even if so there is genuine competition from non-Dark-weak Pokemon, like the Trick-immune and faster Plate Arceus and the aforementioned MMX. In my opinion, calling Shadow Tag Lugia consistent is misguided and, although I do think it can potentially rise to C+, a rise to B rank is unrealistic.
I thought I posted some Gen 7 noms but apparently I didn't so here we are. It helps that I've been playing more Gen 7 as of late as well.
Regular VR:
To be honest, I don't really know what to do here. I see a few options:
- Keep in the same rank as Chansey, as they have essentially the same function. While Chansey is generally seen as the better Imposter user because it can run (and bluff) Eviolite while having marginally lower HP, Blissey is a better Innards Out user because it can run Boomburst more easily. The latter matters because Innards Out users' primary function entails them fainting, and running Shell Smash + Boomburst means Blissey pressures the opponent hard enough that in many scenarios they will be forced to KO Blissey (and usually lose a Pokemon as a result).
- Rank Blissey/Chansey by which role each functions better as. This would mean Chansey is ranked solely for its Imposter and supports Innards Out sets (as well as niche options like Prankster), while Blissey is only ranked with its offensive/SmashPass Innards Out sets in consideration. This is honestly the option I'd go for but it's not clear to me if this, after looking at tiering precedent, is what would be the recommended option.
- Rank by reasoning/weighing both Pokemon's merits, which is what we as a tiering council have done for pretty much the entire modern iteration of the Gen 7 VR, and is something I personally would like to stray away from due to players' stances not really being negotiable and, in a metagame with few high-level players, VR placements being relatively volatile that way.
- Move Blissey to UR as Chansey is the better Pokemon overall; I personally think this is an awful choice because Blissey has genuine merits over Chansey and find much greater reason to use Blissey specifically (over any Pokemon, not just Chansey) on teams than most of the VR.
S+ --> S
Not as insane as their current S+ ranking suggests, especially in a Pure Hackmons setting - you're rarely fitting more than two Chansey onto your team without it having gaping holes (unless you're me), and Mega Mewtwo X has too much competition with other offensive titans, as well as a vulnerability to common revenge-killers in Shadow Tag Mega Rayquaza and Pixilate Mega Diancie. These two are still very clearly the best non-Wonder Guards in the metagame in my eyes, but a drop to flat S would be more indicative of their actual viability.
I've heard a few people say Zygarde-C is as dominant as MMX and Chansey but I don't see it just yet. Its bulk is amazing but not as ridiculous as people like to claim, with it taking around 55~60% from MMX's Play Rough and dropping to Huge Power CFZs after slight chip. I feel it's more a case of it being the best we have, rather than it being a genuinely reliable stop against the wide variety of Huge Power users in the metagame, with Prankster sets having to recover after taking a hit most of the time and Fur Coat sets being unable to recover before taking 2 Huge Power hits (and dropping to stronger Huge Power hits like Mind Plate/Life Orb Photon Geyser anyway). Innards Out is cool but it's too bulky and offensive sets can't do much against Wonder Guards unless you opt for something unreliable like Searing Sunraze Smash. I can confidently say Zygarde-C is a top 3 non-Wonder Guard but it's still a tier below MMX/Chansey in my opinion.
Wonder Guard may drop to S- rank in the future but I think that keeping it in flat S is the safest bet right now.
There's actually very little else I think should be moved, so I'll suggest some Pokemon that have a case to be added to C rank:
This isn't even bad as a Magic Bounce user and is one of 2 Pokemon here that I'm confident should be ranked. The only thing preventing it from being B-rank worthy is having to contend with Wonder Guard Mega Audino on the majority of teams.
Never tried this but it can theoretically pull off Huge Power Sunsteel Strike + Power Trip shenanigans. 125 Attack is low but not truly horrible when you can hit Mega Slowbro, making Mega Steelix the only real switch-in if you opt for Searing Sunraze Smash. Prankster immunity seems funny as well. Would need testing but ranking this in C seems possible at this stage.
Slightly weaker/slower Magic Guard Mega Gengar that has STAB Mind Blown to destroy would-be checks like Yveltal/Magic Bounce Type: Null/non-Wonder Guard Arceus.
Frailer but weaker Giratina-O that's weak to Stealth Rock but immune to Spikes. C is the absolute highest this goes though, since Giratina-O's typing actually lets it die to most of what it wants to and Drifblim can't run effective sweeper sets due to being too weak. Leaning UR myself but I know a certain someone would really like to see this ranked.
Offensive Innards Out user with STAB V-create and Close Combat. You're walled by Zygarde-C without running something egregious but you threaten almost everything else which is cool.
Mold Breaker Shell Smasher that mows through basically everything bar Celesteela (if no Thousand Arrows) and quite literally everything if Thousand Arrows. Is vulnerable to traditional revenge-killers and has trouble with Imposter (though less so if you don't run the no-immunity Ground move) but Dragon-type STAB gives it enough of an edge that it is probably C rank worthy.
Untested but Gengarite Gengar seems pretty funny, especially when a large portion of defensive Pokemon are running Safety Goggles for Spore rather than Shed Shell. I'm sure you can occasionally make progress with No Guard into Shadow Tag or grab a surprise KO with base Prankster Destiny Bond. Can't say if it should be ranked until it's tested.
@
Useful on Groudon spam for Water-types with STAB and Water Shuriken weirdos, and you can disrupt Psychic Terrain once if you're running Misty/Electric Surge. Desolate Land isn't even that bad since V-create is a nuke and you can set hazards against basically anything short of Magic Bounce Zygarde-C/healthy Magic Bounce Giratina. I know people aren't a fan of this but I personally do find it on par with Pokemon like Lugia.
Most likely an oversight but this should definitely be at least C rank, and is possibly B worthy. Huge HP, relatively low defenses, and good STABs make it a really nice Innards Out sweeper, probably almost as good as Giratina-O and Excadrill.
Huge Power First Impression. Fighting-type STAB is pretty useful too, and 185 Attack Sunsteel Strike hits hard even without STAB. Don't know why this was removed in the first place.
Can actually soft check some MMX sets. I've also tried Choice Band Huge Power and it can catch people off guard sometimes. Not sure if this is good enough to be ranked but it's not that much worse than the Pokemon in C.
A few Pokemon I can see also being added to C rank (but I personally disagree with) are Mega Beedrill, Dialga, Doublade, Mega Sceptile, and Zekrom.
Wonder Guard VR:
I think at this stage in the metagame Pokemon below A should be ranked by full letter rank, as is currently done for the regular VR. With this in mind, I'll focus on the upper subranks, but will also point out particularly egregious placements in the lower ranks:
S --> S-
Wouldn't run this on a hypothetical Gen 7 ladder, and that's what differentiates this from Mega Audino/Meloetta clones. Still top tier but I do find it slightly worse than its Gengar-checking competition.
S- --> A+/A
Don't see why this is in the S ranks when the best Wonder Guards are defensive and you'd be much better off running Protean/Huge Power/Magic Guard/Innards Out when you're not forced to run a Wonder Guard. As an offensive Wonder Guard there are a couple that are at least as good anyway.
A- --> A/A+
Genuinely amazing Wonder Guard that can run both Shell Smash and Substitute + Baton Pass sets seamlessly. Prankster immunity and Mold Breaker move immunity/resistances are awesome and you're immune to most of what matters. The only really notable weaknesses are failing to outspeed the particularly fast Pokemon (like MMY/Deoxys-Attack) and being weak to Pixilate. Better than Blissey/Magearna for sure, and is probably on par with Arceus/Kartana.
A+ --> A
Not bad at all, but it has too much competition with MMX/Primal Groudon/MMY/Mega Gengar/other offensive Pokemon. Also has to contend with Shell Smash Mega Scizor, which while weaker can actually take 2 Photon Geysers from no item MMX. +2 Sunsteel Strike relies on rolls vs MMX/Mega Rayquaza anyway so it's not something I would want to rely on.
A- --> A
Another very good Wonder Guard with resistances/immunities to all Mold Breaker moves. Has the usage, effectiveness, and versatility to warrant a rise to A.
UR --> A-
Oversight, I think. Better bulk than Arceus but is vulnerable to Shadow Tag shenanigans, in particular getting Tricked. Is also a slower pivot, though it struggles to contend with the likes of Mega Audino and Mega Slowbro. A- seems like a pretty fair place for it to start.
A+ --> A-
Good bulk on both sides, which makes it slightly better than Slaking, but also doesn't resist Photon Geyser which makes it worse than Cresselia overall. Type: Null has better bulk as well. Not bad by any means but not something I would want to use on most teams.
A --> A-
Cool and good, just hasn't seen much use yet and seems like it'd get forced out too easily by omnipresent physical Pokemon like MMX/Necrozma-DM/Primal Groudon/Kartana/Solgaleo etc. Chansey is probably about as good overall so it can stay in A-.
A+ --> A-/B+
Seems alright but I haven't seen much of this and don't see in this metagame what makes it so great in Gen 6. Would probably use Mega Gyarados over this.
C --> B+
Good Shell Smash sweeper with STAB Fire/Dark coverage and an immunity to Photon Geyser. It's true that you're a little weak/need some hazard support if not running Leftovers Eruption but it still makes good progress in the majority of matchups. Can Imposter-proof Photon Geyser teammates too.
UR --> B+
I think this was an oversight (not sure though given how terrible a state the WG VR is in). Strong Photon Geyser/Moonblast + Spooky Plate Judgment to Imposter-proof if healthy. Not much to say on this one.
A+ --> B+/B
This is just ridiculous. At least one of Zygarde-C/Steelix/Slowbro/Imposter are on 90% of teams and you're telling me Wonder Guard MMX is close to top tier? Give me a break.
A --> B
This thing has to be built around and just because some Ransei team has it doesn't mean it's good. Offensive sets have to be boosted to really be threatening, which sucks because getting that initial boost is not as easy as it seems (Zygarde-C can safely switch into Moonblast), and you don't even Imposter-proof.
B+ --> B-
Fairy weakness sucks and you're gonna want to run something else most of the time.
B+ --> C/UR OR A-/B+
Fist Plate Judgment/special Photon Geyser are the only reasons you're running this over Slaking, and Extreme Speed/other physical attacks are the only reason you're using this over Arceus. In other words, it's garbage. The alternative to lowering Regigigas significantly would be to make it an echo of Slaking, which I would personally dislike doing.
These are all the Pokemon that I find their placements don't reflect their actual viability (for the S/A ranks), and ones that feel extremely off to me for anything below. I am strongly in favor for a change to full letter rank ranking below A- rank because the metagame is in too early a state to definitively place lower-ranked Pokemon and the majority of these placements felt unjustified to me. There were quite a few that I haven't mentioned that I do feel could be moved to a more accurate rank.
Here are some potential additions to the lower ranks that I think were overlooked:
Mold Breaker move resists/immunities and can run Sunsteel Strike. Weaker to Imposter than offensive Mega Gyarados with the same set (Shell Smash/Power Trip/Sunsteel Strike/Strength Sap) and misses important KOs on this specific set but it can probably work with significant hazard support. Wouldn't rise above C realistically but I can see how it could be ranked.
Disruption bot like in Gen 6. Likes Black Sludge but is weak to Dragon Ascent and gets hit by Mold Breaker moves, making it significantly less effective. Still not terrible, though, and I can see this being added into low B/high C rank.
Could run cool disruption like Mega Beedrill does in Gen 6, as it also boasts strong U-turns. Would really like to rely on Leftovers in a STAG Mega Rayquaza metagame, though, which sucks. Can see this somewhere in the lower B ranks.
Can probably run weird mixed/physical sets if it wants to. Special sets are outclassed by Gardevoir and Mega Audino is a better defensive Fairy-type. Would most likely be in C rank for a while if not forever but it still seems ok enough to rank.
Fast Sunsteel Strike resist which is probably intensely mediocre but still makes the cut in terms of VR placement.
Fatass that's surprisingly annoying because you can block Thousand Arrows from Primal Groudon and you aren't affected by Knock Off/Spectral Thief. Probably a niche/meme pick but I have better reasons to use it than stuff like Swampert or stone Sableye.
Holy crap there are a ton of Pokemon that could potentially be ranked so I'm just gonna stop typing explanations
Here are the rest
@ @ @ @
To conclude, great Regular VR, horrible Wonder Guard VR, and a plea to change sub-A rank Wonder Guard VR placements so they're grouped by full letter rank instead of subranks.
Alright taking my turn I guess. I have a couple nominations for the Gen 7 VR as well, some even similar to the post above. However, the nominations I have similar to the post above have a more extreme viewpoint.
Regular Viability Rankings
I only have one nomination for this: S rank - Merge
I think all of S and its subranks can merge together. Zygarde-Complete is a ridiculous behemoth that overcentralizes the meta to a degree where you have to go out of your way provide a strong answer for it on every team or else you are going to be in for a long and painful ride against it. Teams frequently require either an Ice-type or some kind of extremely hard-hitting move like x2 Searing Sunraze Smash in order to do heavy amounts of damage to it. Sometimes it can get 2HKOed with moves like Huge Power Play Rough Mega Mewtwo X for example, but Zygarde can run abilities like Fur Coat, Prankster, Sturdy, or Innards Out to overcome a particular answer whenever. I'd argue it does this better than even Chansey and Mega Mewtwo X and is as equally overcentralized as them in the game. It might be even more overcentralized than the Mewtwo and even harder to answer than Chansey. The main argument against Zygarde-Complete being on the same rank is how easy it is to beat it when you do have an answer for it, but I'd argue the same goes for Chansey and Mega Mewtwo X. Chansey falls to any Magic Guard Pursuit when Innards Out, and any eventual Magnet Pull Mega Metagross when Imposter. Mega Mewtwo X does not like Shadow Tag at all and its biggest weakness, 4MSS, ensures there can always be games where a Mega Mewtwo X cannot make much progress on its own. Heck, if a sweeper runs Ice Shard at x2 a Fur Coat Zygarde-Complete can still take that . Zygarde-Complete and Mega Mewtwo X are one in the same. Both monstrous behemoths on opposite ends who are only restricted by the slots they have.
After using Zygarde a ton I also genuinely believe Zygarde-Complete is better than Wonder Guard in general, as it glues the metagame together more efficiently than Wonder Guard nowadays and when having the Sturdy ability, can even act as a better Wonder Guard than just about every actual Wonder Guard, as strategies such as No Guard Sunsteel Strike Sheer Cold Kartana and No Guard Fissure Moongeist Beam Mega Gengar are starting to crop up. Sturdy Zygarde-Complete may even be a Top 2 Wonder Guard, next to Mega Audino. Zygarde is so good at this on top of having many other sets doing all they can to stop the metagame from crashing down to its knees. Sure, Zygarde-Complete may be the worst of the S ranks, maybe, but for now I see it on a similar enough level as Chansey and Mega Mewtwo X.
I was going to nominate Ultra Necrozma for A rank but after thinking about it I figured I should try Mega Mewtwo X with Z-Crystals first to see how relevant Ultranecrozium Z really is. Its best use is promoting a lack of worry in dealing with Mega Scizor, particularly. Other than that, special-attacking variants should be good but not on Kartana's level. This Pokemon is still brutal after 1 Shell Smash.
Wouldn't run this on a hypothetical Gen 7 ladder, and that's what differentiates this from Mega Audino/Meloetta clones. Still top tier but I do find it slightly worse than its Gengar-checking competition.
Mega Audino should be sole S rank. It's the only great Wonder Guard in the game that can't be harshly exploited in any way. People may argue that its weakness to Sunsteel Strike is bad, but to be honest, this weakness hardly matters. You can't strongly prepare for Mega Audino without strongly preparing for every other Wonder Guard simultaneously, as hardly any take a Sunsteel Strike very well and the few that do usually get bopped by common coverage *cough* Sacred Fire *cough*. Additionally, Mega Audino can even survive a Sunsteel Strike most of the time (w/o rocks or with King's Shield) and only get 2HKOed by it, making it not that much more bad for it than it is with Meloetta, Alolan Muk, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Oranguru, who are less bulky and still get 2HKOed. If the meta decides to run more Searing Sunraze Smash users, every non-resistant Wonder Guard is done for, not just Mega Audino. Wonder Guards should never be used in consideration of answering Sunsteel Strike, since it's pretty unrealistic at this point. Instead, the focus should be on what non Wonder Guards take Sunsteel Strike instead. Mega Audino forms amazing partners with Zygarde-Complete, Mega Gyarados, Mega Slowbro, Primal Groudon, Mega Metagross, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Solgaleo, Mega Steelix, Doublade, Kartana, Celesteela, and many more. Mega Audino is able to synergize with an insane amount of Pokemon all at once, that can cover up as switchins for its biggest weakness, while Mega Audino itself can cover up for their own weaknesses, as a lot of non-Wonder Guards, especially Sunsteel Strike soakers either don't take Moongeist Beam very well, or are weak to moves Mega Audino can eat. Mega Audino is also weak to poison, but the only notable poison-type attacker is Mega Gengar, who is running Moongeist Beam on top of that for nearly every other Wonder Guard, but can be more proficiently checked by Dark-types or hard special walls. Mega Gengar likes Secret Sword more than Sludge Wave because it targets special walls and makes for perfect coverage simultaneously. Most Pokemon resistant or immune to Moongeist Beam are weak to fighting, and most Pokemon resistant to fighting are weak to Ghost.
Mega Audino can also run U-Turn to play around Innards Out, a tool that is heavily needed in this metagame and not something any other top tier Wonder Guard can feasibly run. Mega Scizor, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Alolan Muk have too high of an attack stat, Oranguru and Meloetta let Imposter escape and chip them each time. Mega Audino can heavily chip the best Innards Out user, Chansey, enough to not OHKO it and then survive when it does KO Chansey.
To put it bluntly, Mega Audino is truly the face of Wonder Guard in Gen 7. You cannot reasonably run hard preparation for it without doing so for every other Wonder Guard in the game. It also stands out above every other Wonder Guard as it's the only one without a major exploit of its own, the best pivtor in this game alongside ORAS, and the best Wonder Guard that can be used to play around Innards Out.
Drops
Muk-Alola S -> S-
Alolan Muk is great but its weaknesses are truly critical. It's either weak to Thousand Arrows, the most common coverage move in the game, or it's weak to Fissure, a full on OHKO move, defeating the purpose of having a Wonder Guard. There aren't as many Pokemon to take these moves as there are for Mega Audino's weaknesses. The former weakness leads it to be extremely vulnerable to Shadow Tag Primal Groudon, which ruins any Air Balloon Alolan Muk's day, while the latter eventually makes it outclassed by a more consistent Dark-type like Yveltal while other Wonder Guards handle OHKO moves. Not to mention, a Moongeist Beam Mega Gengar set with No Guard just ruins it very easily as well.
Meloetta &
Oranguru S -> S-
Oranguru and Meloetta's biggest feat is taking Moongeist Beam while not being weak to Sludge Wave, handling some Mega Gengar sets when Mega Audino is unable to. Not enough Mega Gengar should run Sludge Wave to make this super relevant, however, what they do have in return is a nasty weakness to one of the most spammable pivot moves (thanks to Innards Out), and the Dark-type. Dark-type weakness gives them great difficulty in switching out of any Pursuit, whenever a strong Pursuit user comes in. These two Pokemon have to sacrifice their moveslots more often than not in order to handle their weakness as they would otherwise get KOed before being able to escape. Mega Audino can safely escape from its weaknesses by switching out into resistances, Meloetta and Oranguru Pokemon cannot, making them extremely exploitable. Sure they can run King's Shield and Baton Pass to weaken Pursuit, but when that's put into effect too frequently, they can just get exploited by a Taunt Pursuit user. Pursuit should be great for not only taking out the large portion of psychic and ghost-types that dominate the metagame, but effectively dealing with Innards Out when used by a Magic Guard, making this likely an ordeal for them to be very consistent a ladder meta. These two Pokemon also have to always run King's Shield and Baton Pass in order to avoid their weaknesses, making them more costly to use most of the time than either Mega Audino or other Mega Gengar answers. Outside of that, both Beat Up and Knock Off are plausible Mega Mewtwo X coverage moves one can specifically use against these two Pokemon.
Unlike with Gen 6 Pure Hackmons, where the top contenders are very close to each other in overall effectiveness, aerobee and I have determined that there is a notable difference between Mega Audino and the rest of the Wonder Guards in this metagame, making it the definitive best Wonder Guard in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons.
Scizor-Mega S- -> A+
Mega Scizor on paper looks like a top tier Wonder Guard for being able to resist Sunsteel Strike and Photon Geyser, but in practice, any Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X or a moldy move user after 1 set up can overwhelm Mega Scizor with said resisted attack, disallowing Mega Scizor from taking more than one hit from them. Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X 2HKOs with Photon Geyser, Ultra Necrozma can OHKO with Light That Burns The Sky after 1 Shell Smash, it won't be able to safely switch into Kartana when it Shell Smashes once, and it can't switch into Huge Power Solgalium Z Dusk Mane, etc. It's also this high because on paper, it looks as if it can be a plausible sweeper. I think Magearna does it better due to having better mixed STABs overall and if Mega Scizor is just being physical, it's outclassed by Kartana since Kart can hit harder.
Edit: I forgot to mention how splashable fire-type moves are as they are the most common types of coverage alongside Thousand Arrows for Pokemon that use Photon Geyser and/or Sunsteel Strike. These Pokemon not only run fire moves for Mega Scizor, but many other Pokemon that take Moldy moves, including ones like Mega Steelix and Doublade who generally handle them much better than a Scizor can.
Mewtwo-Mega-Y S- --> A
It's fast and can be used as support but it lacks all the most important things a Wonder Guard needs to be great in Gen 7. It's weak to Moongeist Beam and its low defense ensures it can't take a hit from Photon Geyser nor Sunsteel Strike very well. It also carries all the same weaknesses as Meloetta and Oranguru, but to a worse extent since it includes Ghost-type and is overall less physically bulky. Mega Mewtwo Y is generally better off running other abilities for sure, but A is not that high of a bar for Wonder Guards in Gen 7.
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite B -> C
I've tried it, although it was way back in the past. This Pokemon is very difficult to run in Gen 7 and is not going to be effective in many scenarios. Not only do all 3 Mold Breaker moves go through it, Gyarados has to find a way to somehow work around Zygarde-Complete, which generally cannot exist within all of its normal sets. This is not a Wonder Guard that makes it very far.
Lunala B- -> UR
I believe Dawn Wings fully outclasses Lunala as a Wonder Guard in quite literally every way that matters. Lunala should run Innards Out instead.
Rises
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings B -> B+
Better than Gyaradosite Gyarados in every way because it's bulkier, hits harder, can run STAB Moongeist Beam, can run Moonblast fairy coverage to hit Zygarde-Complete harder, and most importantly, can transform into Ultra Necrozma whenever it wants. It doesn't always have to do this however. It can just stick with STAB Moongiest Beam and run Lunalium Z for Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom. This Pokemon is honestly overlooked and might be better than Dusk Mane and Solgaleo as a Wonder Guard. It's also better than Lunala because it outslows, potentially pivoting better than it, can hit way harder, and can whip out Ultra Necrozma whenever to speed creep.
The main argument against Zygarde-Complete being on the same rank is how easy it is to beat it when you do have an answer for it, but I'd argue the same goes for Chansey and Mega Mewtwo X. Chansey falls to any Magic Guard Pursuit when Innards Out, and any eventual Magnet Pull Mega Metagross when Imposter.
I think there's a difference here. The point of offensive Pokemon is to... kill things, really. Or force progress by using their powerful attacks. By running Ice-type moves or Huge Power Play Rough, you force progress against Zygarde and the offensive Pokemon has thus accomplished its role. The only cost is that you have to maybe have to change out a move to do so, and that move sometimes doesn't match up well into other threats. (However, in the case of Ice Shard and Play Rough on MMX, they are good to great outside of just targetting Zygarde, because they prevent STAG Mega Rayquaza from revenge killing you and target Fariy-weak Dark-type Wonder Guards respectively. Ice Beam on Mold Breaker Primal Groudon is also good for hitting Flying-types immune to its Precipice Blades. ) In the case of Magic Guard Pursuit or Magnet Pull Metagross, you are running an entire Pokemon whose role it is to remove Innards Out or Imposter Chansey. These Pokemon accomplish their role effectively and efficiently, but come at a much more severe opportunity cost than changing out a single move on a Huge Power Pokemon, for example. Additionally, they are pretty mediocre outside of that role. Magnet Pull Metagross can use Searing Sunraze Smash and Evoboost I guess? I would have to see significant evidence that proves that would be reliable to believe it. And Magic Guard + Pursuit can still do the Magic Guard thing where it lives and can set up to countersweep, I suppose. But it sacrifices a lot of its effectiveness at actually sweeping as a result, since it can effectively only run 1 coverage move. (And the Pokemon itself must be a physical attacker, another limitation)
tl;dr The counterplay to Zygarde is much better overall and has a lesser opportunity cost than counterplay to Innards Out and Imposter Chansey.
Unlike with Gen 6 Pure Hackmons, where the top contenders are very close to each other in overall effectiveness, aerobee and I have determined that there is a notable difference between Mega Audino and the rest of the Wonder Guards in this metagame, making it the definitive best Wonder Guard in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons.
You didn't mention this, but the special thing about Mega Scizor as a sweeper is that it can act defensively and as a sweeper at the same time. Typically with a set like this:
Lets it beat Imposter Chansey, lets it sweep, and Strength Sap lets it barely hang on against some of the threats you mentioned. I think this blend of offense and defense as well as its purely defensive set may allow it to stick around in S-. I don't know if keeping it in the same tier as Oranguru and Muk-Alola is justified, however.
I am writing this post to advocate for Gen 6 Pure Hackmon's first ban- I realize this is unprecedented and controversial given the nature and definition of the game, but as the longest-standing active member of the Gen 6 PH community, this is a ban that absolutely needs to happen as I believe it finally reaches the degeneracy ceiling of the meta and, now that it's more clearly public knowledge, completely undermines the whole game.
In the Gen 6 games, there's a bug that occurs when your Pokemon has two copies of the same move- when the first copy's PP reaches zero, you are still able to select the second. However, upon choosing the second move, the Pokemon attempts to use the move but it fails. This doesn't drain any PP from the second copy of the move, so this is repeatable ad infinitum. On the surface outside of the context of Pure Hackmons this doesn't seem abusable, but with access to any move and any ability, this becomes ridiculously powerful in the context of trapping imposters. With Arena Trap or Magnet Pull, an imposter is trapped permanently without the chance of running out of PP. At the moment, this interaction does not activate endless battle clause. The issue here arises with the fact running two moves has the chance to instantly win or tie any game when it is copied with a non-Shed Shell Imposter, and how limiting this strategy is on scouting because it's effectively invisible until it happens and you instantly lose.
Interestingly enough, this strategy does have some legitimate applications as well. I threw together this combo that capitalizes on trapping an imposter to get an unbeatable +6 all mold breaker behind a sub. It's up to you to decide whether instantly winning a game like this against one single scouting attempt is fair or not, but the wide distribution of situations you can abuse this in and how it can be masked as anything makes it especially problematic.
This first combo focuses on Accupressure boosting to get an unbeatable Mold Breaker.
Groudon-Primal @ Shed Shell
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Defog
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
Even worse, you can run two of sets in tandem on offensive Pokemon to bluff as a revenge killer.
Regigigas @ Silk Scarf
Ability: Shadow Tag
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Fake Out
- Extreme Speed
- Bullet Punch
- Spikes
Regigigas @ Shed Shell
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Shadow Sneak
Apart from changing how EBC detects endless battles, I am advocating for a ban of double moves in Gen 6 Pure Hackmons. As the most consistent way to force endless battles, it acts as an easier and more efficient way to do the old Normalize / Truant + Entrainment set that hinges on taking advantage of the most stable and healthy parts of the metagame in imposter.
Regular VR:
Lugia rises to C+
Mewtwo-Mega-X FALLS to the top of A+
(NOTE: I kept S and S+ and did not lower WG to S and Giratina to S- as WG is still so much further above everything else and Giratina's place really hasn't changed much and it further shows how much further Mewtwo-Mega-X among the rest of the list is from these 2 things.)
Wonder Guard VR:
Kyogre falls below Audino-Mega for second place in A+
Other updates may happen eventually for changes but as it stands I choose to update with these 3 mons as there are generally agreed-upon notes.
Kyogres fall was eventually inevitable I would say. most of the points on it have been made so I won't go into too much detail but I generally agree nowadays that it's weaker than S, weaker than Audino-Mega, and maybe even weaker than some normals eventually like arceus or slaking. As for Audino rising no hard agreements have been made but I am not entirely opposed to moving it into S-. In any case, Audino-Mega probably won't be dropping any time soon.
Lugia is just another strong shadow tag mon and everyone says but shed shell and then I say but how is shadow tag still spammed. This cycle of argument seems to be happening a lot. Mostly I agree with C+ actually because hate Sceptile-Mega now LOL. I rather use almost anything else over it and it's probably not moving to B like aerobee has said but also like Ransei said it's a little stronger than flat C.
The biggest change here is Mewtwo-Mega-X. Gotta say this one is still a bit hard for me to actually move but with Ransei Aerobee and NtoTheN's positions and posts here and discord, you can clearly see it's moving in a direction towards falling when taking everything into consideration. This is more of just a directional step to keep things moving with the VR. It's a step to show it's on the radar and show hey this mon may be a bit lower. This is for sure the biggest thing of discussion currently with Gen 6 PH VR.
Perhaps not actually that massive of an update but be aware things are on the radar. If there are any questions or more nominations please comment here or in the discord.
I wanted to suggest some Pokemon for a potential Gen 6 VR D rank, since I believe that the metagame is stale enough that one can feasibly be made now. A Wonder Guard D-rank could be feasible as well but I haven't had the time to reflect on what a D-rank would look like yet. Used a paste of ranks lower than the VR encompasses for guidance.
Absol-Mega: Can run weird Scarf Huge Power sets even if you'd just go for priority Sucker Punch the vast majority of the time. Aerodactyl-Mega: Honestly not as bad as people say, okay Mold Breaker and maybe somehow justifiable Shadow Tag sets. Audino-Mega: Magic Bounce sets are better than people give them credit for, potential Trick immunity is cool too and Prankster sets aren't 100% trash, maybe only 96%. Banette-Mega: Mold Breaker Belly Drum and Huge Power Shadow Sneak sets. Chansey (non-Imposter): Can't be added if Chansey (and not Imposter) remains at A+ rank, of course. Prankster sets aren't horrendously bad, you just have a lot of trouble fitting it on a team and justifying it. Chesnaught: Decent Primal Groudon and Gyarados (both formes) switchin, can run Magic Bounce if you're willing to die to V-create. U-turn neutrality is cool too. Cresselia: Prankster, Magic Bounce, and Poison Heal sets are actually okay/annoying enough in practice, even if you have a really hard time justifying using it over Giratina/Arceus/Mega Gyarados/even Mega Slowbro or whatever for one specific purpose. Deoxys-Attack: Dies to everything but can still hit hard and threaten what it needs to, especially Pokemon hard offense traditionally struggles with like Wonder Guard Mega Beedrill. Deoxys-Speed: Mold Breaker hazard leads are garbage but Deoxys-S is clearly the best at said role so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ferrothorn: Spore-immune soft Xerneas/Dialga/Mega Diancie check with alright synergy with Giratina but questionable bulk. Gardevoir-Mega: Choice Specs/Shell Smash Mold Breaker I guess. You'd rather use MMY/Mega Latios/Xerneas/Mega Diancie the vast majority of the time though. Gengar @ Gengarite: Illusion or Prankster into Shadow Tag has seen occasional use on ladder, and while it's really fishy it does require a degree of playing around/can get stuff done if the opponent's not careful. Houndoom-Mega: One of the Dark-resistant Mold Breakers of all time/Choice Scarf Foul Play trapper/Choice Band Huge Power trapper. Latias-Mega: Better than everything here in a vacuum and I don't know where this goes if not ranked where Mega Latios is. Kyurem-White: Cool mixed Shell Smash user that can make use of Techno Blast for Plate Imposter if needed, can also run Choice Specs Mold Breaker if needed. Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite: Shadow Tag into No Guard OHKO. Really inconsistent, but really effective when it works. Probopass: Hardcounters Oblivion Wing Mega Rayquaza and does nothing else. Salamence @ Salamencite: The hidden C- Pokemon that traps slower Wonder Guards/Mega Gyarados/whatever with Encore and Megas into an -ate revenge killer. Scizor-Mega: Flash Fire is funny surprise, and can run Choice Band Mold Breaker/Huge Power Bullet Punch & Bug STAB to some effectiveness. Slowbro-Mega: Checks physical foes in particular slightly harder than Giratina, also isn't forced out by Pursuit -ates. Competing with the clear #1 in the metagame kinda sucks though. Steelix-Mega: Takes Pursuits better than Registeel does, comes in on most -ate users, checks Zekrom, blocks random Volt Switches from Choiced Mold Breakers, doesn't do much else. Swampert-Mega: Decent Choice Band Mold Breaker user that can pack Water Shuriken for Primal Groudon. Shell Smash sets can work occasionally too but are noticeably weaker than Primal Groudon. Not much else works on this mon.
And here are some other potential additions (I think these suck though):
Altaria-Mega: Painfully mediocre Magic Bounce user. Maybe can do Mold Breaker sweeper things once in a blue moon? Not worth it >99% of the time. Arceus-Ghost: Multitype Spooky Plate Arceus on spam teams for mons like MMX that love to click Fighting STAB into you. Useless outside of Arceus spam specifically, though, and you don't even necessarily run it on spam. Bastiodon: Probopass clone but you don't hit as hard if you opt for Ice Beam or some crap and you have slightly lower special bulk. Charizard-Mega-Y: Choice Specs Mold Breaker??? Maybe Gale Wings or something as well but that's all you would realistically think of using even as meme sets. Lopunny-Mega: STAG Explosion is honestly probably its best set and that's saying something. Band Mold Breaker is a maybe and Huge Power seems beyond awful. Palkia: Another shitty Shell Smash Mold Breaker. Water + Dragon isn't too horrible a STAB combination but the relative lack of bulk/defensive typing in this metagame is concerning. Pikachu: Hits harder than Imposter Chansey after Transforming into an opposing sweeper, but is WAY frailer (dies to most priority) and relies on ties if no paralysis. Shedinja: You wall ALL Huge Power users (besides lucky Sacred Fire spammers I guess), but you also die to any residual chip and things like Mold Breaker Pursuit exist. Shuckle: Slowest pivot in the game but you could also be using a Magic Bounce user with actual defensive utility/bulk. Skuntank: Toxic Spikes absorbing Magic Bounce user that can Pursuit/Sucker Punch Mega Latios/Mega Gengar and the like. Realistically never using this over Yveltal or something though. Tangrowth: Primal Groudon check that's slightly bulkier than Chesnaught physically raw stats wise. Has a worse defensive typing into almost every other physical threat, though.
Welcome to the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons Setpedia. I went ahead with a Setpedia for Gen 7 PH because the current one is very outdated, I had a draft from a while back, and NToTheN is lazy. Sets are ordered by viability, and only sets that are not fully outclassed are included. C rank Pokemon on the regular VR are not included due to the current state of the metagame. The Wonder Guard Setpedia is separate, and can be found here.
Choice Scarf No Guard (Gengar-Mega) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fissure / Sheer Cold
- Moongeist Beam / Gastro Acid
- Sing / Stealth Rock / Sludge Bomb
- Trick / Inferno / Zap Cannon
Hyper Offense Shell Smash Sweeper (Groudon-Primal) @ Focus Sash / Lum Berry / Ground Memory
Ability: Huge Power / Magic Bounce / Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Naughty / Jolly / Naive Nature
- Shell Smash / Searing Sunraze Smash / Light That Burns the Sky
- Thousand Arrows / Multi-Attack / Sacred Fire / Searing Shot / Fusion Flare
- Searing Sunraze Smash / Sunsteel Strike / Light That Burns the Sky
- Ice Shard / Let's Snuggle Forever / Icicle Crash / Play Rough / Fusion Bolt / Beat Up / Steam Eruption / Destiny Bond / Assist
Note: Best used on Primal Groudon spam Hyper Offense to maximize unpredictability. At least 2~3 Huge Power + 1 Magic Bounce + 1 Prankster user for best results. Use Destiny Bond in 4th moveslot if Prankster, much harder to run on Huge Power/Magic Bounce Primal Groudons. Only run Assist on Assist teams with the called move being V-create or Thousand Arrows.
Innards Out Sweeper (Giratina) @ Leftovers / Dragonium Z / Ghostium Z
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shell Smash
- Moongeist Beam
- Clanging Scales
- Searing Sunraze Smash / V-create / Close Combat / Baton Pass / Spore / Lovely Kiss / Shore Up
Note: Used over Giratina-Origin if the user wants to make use of the surprise factor; this set is strictly better on Giratina-Origin if surprise factor is not taken into account.
Innards Out Sweeper (Giratina-Origin) @ Leftovers / Dragonium Z / Ghostium Z
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shell Smash
- Moongeist Beam
- Clanging Scales
- Searing Sunraze Smash / V-create / Close Combat / Baton Pass / Spore / Lovely Kiss / Shore Up
Innards Out Sweeper (Guzzlord) @ Leftovers / Dragonium Z / Darkinium Z / Leppa Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike / Searing Sunraze Smash / Moongeist Beam / Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom
- Clanging Scales
- Knock Off / Beat Up / Power Trip / Night Daze / V-create / Close Combat / Malicious Moonsault / Moongeist Beam / Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom / Spore / Lovely Kiss / Shore Up / Wish / Baton Pass
Support Innards Out (Guzzlord) @ Shed Shell / Aguav Berry / Lum Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely / Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Def / 0 SpD
- Spectral Thief / Knock Off / Lunar Dance / Transform / Clanging Scales
- Spikes / Stealth Rock / Aromatherapy / Defog
- Whirlwind / Spiky Shield / Baton Pass / Chatter / U-turn
- Shore Up / Wish
Prankster (Gyarados-Mega) @ Safety Goggles / Leftovers / Shed Shell
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Relaxed / Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Destiny Bond / Will-O-Wisp / Spectral Thief
- Encore / Haze
- Pursuit / Knock Off
- Shore Up
Poison Heal Sweeper (Gyarados-Mega) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Power Trip
- Sunsteel Strike
- Will-O-Wisp / King's Shield / Spore / Strength Sap / Shore Up
Welcome to the Gen 7 Pure Hackmons Wonder Guard Setpedia. Sets are ordered by viability, and only sets that are not fully outclassed are included. B-C rank Pokemon on the Wonder Guard VR are not included due to the current state of the metagame. The Setpedia is separate, and can be found here.
WONDER GUARD VR
S Rank
S Rank
Support Wonder Guard (Audino-Mega) @ Shed Shell / Darkinium Z / Safety Goggles
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed / Impish Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 0 Spe
- Defog / Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield
- U-turn / Parting Shot / Baton Pass / Spectral Thief
- Shore Up / Wish / Strength Sap
Note: 30 Attack IVs is to deal 99% max to standard Innards Out Chansey.
S- Rank
Support Wonder Guard (Meloetta) @ Shed Shell / Safety Goggles / Darkinium Z / Colbur Berry
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy / Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog / Spectral Thief / Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- Baton Pass / Parting Shot
- Shore Up / Wish / Strength Sap
Support Wonder Guard (Muk-Alola) @ Shed Shell / Safety Goggles / Air Balloon / Darkinium Z / Grassium Z / Black Sludge
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog / Spectral Thief / Knock Off / Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- Pursuit / Parting Shot / Baton Pass / Trick
- Shore Up / Wish
Support Wonder Guard (Oranguru) @ Shed Shell / Safety Goggles / Darkinium Z / Colbur Berry / Grassium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy / Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog / Spectral Thief / Stealth Rock
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- Baton Pass / Parting Shot
- Shore Up / Wish / Strength Sap
A Rank
A+ Rank
Support Wonder Guard (Scizor-Mega) @ Shed Shell / Safety Goggles / Darkinium Z / Grassium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog / Stealth Rock / Powder / Sunsteel Strike / Spectral Thief / Rapid Spin
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- U-turn / Baton Pass / Parting Shot
- Shore Up / Strength Sap
Wonder Guard Sweeper (Scizor-Mega) @ Fire Memory
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Impish / Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Sunsteel Strike
- Multi-Attack
- Strength Sap / Shore Up / Fusion Bolt / Thousand Arrows / Spore / Lovely Kiss
A Rank
Support Wonder Guard (Cresselia) @ Shed Shell / Darkinium Z / Colbur Berry / Safety Goggles / Grassium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Defog / Stealth Rock / Spectral Thief / Knock Off
- Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- Baton Pass / Parting Shot / U-turn
- Shore Up / Strength Sap / Wish
Substitute + Baton Pass Wonder Guard (Greninja-Ash) @ Leftovers
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lovely Kiss / Taunt
- Substitute
- Coil / Minimize
- Baton Pass
Note: Lovely Kiss is best ran with Coil, and Taunt is best ran with Minimize.
Support Wonder Guard (Gyarados-Mega) @ Safety Goggles / Shed Shell / Darkinium Z / Grassium Z
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Relaxed / Impish / Sassy / Careful Nature
- Defog / Stealth Rock
- Pursuit / Aromatherapy / King's Shield / Magic Coat
- Parting Shot / Baton Pass / U-turn / Spectral Thief / Knock Off
- Shore Up / Strength Sap
There were a few placements on the regular VR that I disagreed with, and I felt that the Wonder Guard VR was in really bad shape, but council never really discussed changes to the Viability Rankings. So I did what any respectable supreme leader Pure Hackmons tiering council member would do in this situation: take matters into his own hands and make changes as I see fit. I made a couple changes to the regular VR that made sense to me (and hopefully my fellow council members), and cleaned up the Wonder Guard VR so it's actually somewhat accurate now.
These two Pokemon drop because they aren't meaningfully easier to fit than Wonder Guard users onto the average team, and gone are the days where Mega Mewtwo X could reliably handle both opposing checks and revenge killers at once. Chansey was probably rated too high from the start, as Innards Out Chansey warps the metagame to a nearly unparalled extent and Imposter Chansey is a formidable tool in general, it is not as splashable onto teams as Wonder Guard is and counterplay for both sets has become more common, both by running specific Pokemon (Magic Guard sweepers/Pursuit users for the former, and Imposter-proof offensive Pokemon/Shadow Tag users for the latter) and running team structures that don't care much about losing a Pokemon or having sweepers Transformed into (for example, Primal Groudon spam Hyper Offense). While Mega Mewtwo X is as metagame-warping as ever, it has gotten worse in practice with the prevalence of Choice Scarf Shadow Tag Mega Rayquaza, checks that can handle Mewtwo just fine at least in the short term like Zygarde-C, Mega Steelix, and Mega Slowbro, and a greater selection of potential competitors (Mega Gengar, Mega Mewtwo Y, Primal Groudon, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane). Chansey and Mega Mewtwo X drop to S rank.
A --> A+
Not much to say on this one, here's a list of relevant replays. Shadow Tag and Magic Guard sets are cool too.
UR --> B
Good Innards Out user that was probably overlooked before. Guzzlord boasts huge base HP, relatively low defenses on both sides, and the ability to run Dragon-type STAB for Zygarde-C and Dark-type STAB for Meloetta/Oranguru. Can run Imposter sets if its Dark/Dragon typing would allow for Imposter-proofing specific sets as well.
@ UR --> C
This Pokemon pretty much only has a place on Groudon spam balance, and even then it has to contend with Desolate Land Primal Groudon, which can run an item. However, Groudon holding Red Orb can also act as a one-time Psychic Surge disruptor by setting Misty or Electric Surge, which is actually relevant enough that Red Orb Groudon is deserving of a spot in C.
In my view Mega Audino is noticeably (but not outlandishly) easier to run than these three, not so much due to top-tier bulk but because it doesn't have any easily exploitable weaknesses. Meloetta/Oranguru are vulnerable to Pursuit in an Ash Greninja/Mega Gyarados metagame, and Alolan Muk drops to Fissure without Air Balloon. Mega Audino might be weak to Sunsteel Strike but none of these three are able to come in on Huge Power users safely anyway, so in practice this isn't really an Audino-specific weakness. Mega Gengar can prepare for Mega Audino with Sludge Wave/Bomb, but the move isn't that useful outside of hitting Audino; in other words, there's a significant opportunity cost to covering Audino specifically. All in all Meloetta/Alolan Muk/Oranguru are less splashable, and are moved to S- rank as a result.
S- --> A+
Mega Scizor hasn't really gotten worse, it's just not as good as the above three Wonder Guards so it drops to A+ rank.
A+ --> A
Again, these haven't gotten worse but what's better than them has dropped so down they go.
A- --> A
These two are formidable Wonder Guards that resist all three of Photon Geyser/Sunsteel Strike/Moongeist Beam, and therefore have a lot of defensive utility. Ash Greninja can run Shell Smash sweeper sets as well as make use of its Prankster immunity to pass Substitutes and Coil/Minimize boosts to teammates while putting would-be counterplay to sleep with Lovely Kiss. Mega Gyarados is mostly used as a bulky Wonder Guard due to its ability to soft check Huge Power Necrozma-DM/Mega Gengar/some Mega Mewtwo X, though it can sometimes run Shell Smash sets on Psychic Terrain HO if used to Imposter-proof Photon Geyser abusers. Both Pokemon's positive qualities mean a rise to A rank is warranted.
Mega Slowbro was also underranked, but a lot of top Wonder Guards dropping means it's staying put.
S- --> A-
No clue what this was doing all the way up in S-. The best Wonder Guards have significant defensive utility, even if offensive, and are able to Imposter-proof to great effect if functioning as a setup sweeper. Mega Mewtwo Y gets 2HKOed by Mega Mewtwo X's Photon Geyser (not a switch-in if not running Strength Sap) and has trouble Imposter-proofing while hitting what it wants to if it's a Shell Smash sweeper. The vast majority of the time you'd want to just run something else, and I think that's to a degree where it dropping to A- rank is reasonable.
A+ --> A-
These aren't bad per se, but their typing doesn't give them much defensive utility against Huge Power users, even if Close Combat/Low Kick aren't that common. Arceus is too slow to effectively run fast Taunt/sleep/Gastro Acid sets, being outsped by Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Gengar and the like, and Slaking is undersped by almost every other slow pivot in the game. Slaking specifically is less bulky and slow than Type: Null, meaning you'd need significant value from its item to justify running it as a defensive slow pivot. Both Pokemon drop to A- rank.
A --> A-
Blissey hasn't really gotten worse, but much like Slaking you need to make use of your item slot to compete with the bulkier (with Eviolite) and slower Wonder Guard Chansey. Moved down a bit because Pokemon in the new A rank are better.
B+ --> A-
Necrozma-DM can run Photon Geyser + Sunsteel Strike sweeper sets that make use of its dual STAB, defensive utility, and ability to use Searing Sunraze Smash without sacrificing a moveslot with Solganium Z. Solgaleo sports more overall bulk and still hits decently hard with Sunsteel Strike against frailer foes, though it's not very effective a slot pivot due to its relatively high Speed for a defensive Pokemon. Though it was a borderline decision for me, I believe a rise to A- rank is justified.
UR --> A-
This was probably an oversight. Type: Null boasts Giratina-level bulk with Eviolite, and while it can't run Shed Shell/Safety Goggles/a Z-crystal it still has impressive defensive utility and decently low Speed. I'd say it's around as good as Slaking and Arceus.
C --> B+
Great Wonder Guard sweeper that's immune to Photon Geyser and resists Moongeist Beam/Sunsteel Strike while not being weak to Fairy/Bug. You also gain STAB on Fire-type coverage, which lets you OHKO Mega Mewtwo X with Eruption at +2 from full and Blue Flare at +2 after Spikes chip. It's true that Ground weakness hurts and you're not eating Stealth Rock/Sunsteel Strike/Moongeist Beam damage for very long due to its unremarkable bulk, but Houndoom has what it needs to sweep in a large subset of matchups. It's good enough for B+.
UR --> B+
Another great Wonder Guard that was overlooked (I hope). Photon Geyser + Moonblast STAB on top of a relatively high SpA means you're bound to run over a lot of unprepared teams; Moongeist Beam/Sunsteel Strike weaknesses aren't even that bad when they mean you can run Spooky/Iron Plate Judgment to Imposter-proof if healthy. Good enough for B+ I think.
A+ --> B
Now what's NOT good enough for B+ (or anything above that) is Mega Mewtwo X, which you can't really justify running as a Wonder Guard outside of hard offense. Even on Hyper Offense you'd usually rather run something else, like a Magic Guard Focus Sash or No Guard user. You're weak to Pixilate Mega Diancie and Shadow Tag Mega Rayquaza anyway. Just use Huge Power if you want the damage.
A --> B
No offense to Ransei but there's little to no reason to run this offensively over anything else. A pathetically weak Sunsteel Strike means the best set might unironically be no Mold Breaker move/Photon Geyser 3 attacks, and obviously that's pretty hard to justify when you could be using Mega Gardevoir or Necrozma-DM or something. Defensive sets MIGHT have some niche but with Wonder Guard I don't know what you'd be using them for. Tossing it into B rank for now, but it's hard to know its true viability when it's only really seen use on one team.
UR --> B
Has positive qualities in outspeeding Deoxys-A while having a strong U-turn. You're also not weak to Pursuit, which gives this an additional reason to use over Deoxys-S. I've used this once or twice to some effect and it was actually not that bad.
UR --> B
Surprisingly decent Wonder Guard user despite its weakness to Sheer Cold. Actual offensive stats mean you can run Pursuit fairly easily (though Ash Greninja and Mega Gyarados still hit harder), and you aren't affected by Spikes I suppose. You're also immune to Fighting-type coverage which lets you check some Magic Guard Mega Gengar very well too. B seems fair to me, especially given you can toss an Innards Out user against a No Guard foe if absolutely needed.
B --> B-
Never seen this and it has VERY limited theoretical usefulness.
B+ --> C
The only thing this does over Slaking is eat Photon Geysers (or rare Fist Plate Judgments/Normalize Moongeist Beams I guess?) from special attackers. It's straight-up worse otherwise.
B --> C
It's a great Wonder Guard in Gen 6 specifically because it blocks a lot of what screws it over with Wonder Guard. In Gen 7 almost every offensive Pokemon runs a Mold Breaker move, so non-offensive Deoxys-A is no bueno. Even offensive sets are pretty much always better done by Magic Guard/Huge Power Deoxys-A on Psychic Surge HO, and you'd always use Mega Mewtwo Y instead on balance. Drops to C.
UR --> C
Mega Beedrill does what it does in Gen 6, albeit less successfully due to Mold Breaker moves/Choice Scarf Shadow Tag Mega Rayquaza/Choice Scarf Primal Groudon/Wonder Guard Alolan Muk existing. I built with Wonder Guard Bisharp once and it wasn't too bad; it's also seen use historically so I figured why not. Ditto's probably around as good as Mega Lopunny overall since you outspeed everything up to base 145s while opposing Imposter is still super slow, though at the cost of an item. I figured C rank would be a good starting point for these.
I've dug into the ORAS Hackmons metagame a bit more again since my last post, including statistics, and created a sandbox version of my own personal VR, of Wonder Guard and of No Guard. I didn't do this for the regular VR because honestly right now there is only one small nomination I have for it.
S+
Wonder Guard
Ice Weak Wonder Guards are ranked due to their ability to wall most offensive Pokemon bar Mold Breaker and No Guard users. However, because they are weak to Sheer Cold and are therefore vulnerable to No Guard users, they usually should be run with either 2 other non-Ice weak Wonder Guards or an offensive Shadow Tag user such as Regigigas, Slaking. or Mewtwo Mega X with a Choice Scarf.
S Rank
S
Audino-Mega
Kyogre-Primal
Xerneas
A Rank
A+
Arceus
Beedrill-Mega
Blissey
Slaking
A
Deoxys-Attack
Escavalier
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Scizor-Mega
A-
Cresselia
Gardevoir-Mega
Gengar-Mega
Manectric-Mega
Sableye-Mega
B Rank
B+
Deoxys-Speed
Groudon-Primal
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Skuntank
Swampert-Mega
B
Ditto
Drapion
Dusclops
Ferrothorn
Lucario-Mega
Ludicolo
Mewtwo-Mega-X
B-
Ho-Oh
Landorus-Therian
Rotom-Fan
Talonflame
Thundurus
Volcarona
C Rank
C+
Gyarados
Hoopa-Unbound
Landorus
Mismagius
Shuckle
Thundurus-Therian
C
Lopunny-Mega
Kyurem-White
Registeel
Skarmory
Wobbuffet
C-
Blaziken-Mega
Dialga
Durant
Empoleon
Galvantula
Genesect
Gengar @ Gengarite
Metagross-Mega
Palkia
Reshiram
Sableye @ Sablenite
Volcanion
Zapdos
???
The Supremely Outclassed (Also known as the Shadow Realm)
This is all the remaining Pokémon who hold the same or similar set of weaknesses as an individual Pokémon above ??? rank. They are either fully outclassed or do not have strong enough merits to escape from ??? rank. These Pokémon can be used and players may find success with them, but they bring minimal to no value above the Pokémon ranked higher on the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings. This does not apply to all other Pokémon simply because plenty have critical combinations of weaknesses that render them unusable with Wonder Guard and several have combined weaknesses that can be worked with but require a significant amount of support to such an extent that they fall below ??? Rank. In summary, these pokemon are in theory above D rank but in actual play should nearly never be used.
Examples of Pokémon who fit under ??? Rank
Furret (Incredibly outclassed by Arceus and many other pure Normal-types)
Floette-Eternal (Incredibly outclassed by Xerneas & Audino-mega )
Seismitoad (Incredibly outclassed by Swampert-Mega)
Surskit (Incredibly outclassed by Gyarados @ Gyaradosite)
Here's what I changed:
Mega Audino: A+ -> S
To put it bluntly I genuinely think a lot of what I said here holds up and it's even backed by how it's been the most used Wonder Guard for two months in a row again now, and above Xerneas nearly the entire rest of this year. I haven't even used Mega Audino as much as Xerneas myself this year to contribute to this. Xerneas is not holding Mega Audino back very much if at all because it has to fulfill entirely separate roles from it to not get outdone and suffer its own weakness for it, while Mega Audino fulfills the very role Wonder Guards should prioritize on most, better than Xerneas ever can. Xerneas is most threatening for its offensive capability, and it's great enough at its job to stay S for sure, but a lot of the time, you have offensive non Wonder Guards on your team to cover up for this. Mega Audino however, cannot have its role outdone by non-Wonder Guards and is the best support + cleric Wonder Guard in the game overall. It almost is in general, but at is at least capable of fulfilling everything Giratina cannot do, since Giratina is tied to Curse, Recover, and Encore more often than not. From my experience using Mega Audino, and what the stats show during the beginning and current stages of the game, Mega Audino is just too consistent to not be in the premier rank.
Speaking of consistency
Primal Kyogre: A+ -> S
lol apparently when Mega Audino isn't the most used Wonder Guard this thing is, and the more I thought about it, it all made sense. Grass-type moves are discouraged because they only ever hit Primal Kyogre and Swampert, so Freeze Dry is much more preferred in the game. Primal Kyogre eats up Freeze Dry much of the time while it helps answer Giratina, Latios, and Flying-types more frequently. Primal Kyogre hardly has any direct flaws, does not face the competition Mega Audino and Xerneas have, and is a great partner for both them and Giratina in a team. It's great at being a support while punishing with Scald, and almost every other Wonder Guard is less consistent at its job. The main problems Kyogre have are being a little too fast to outpivot slower Wonder Guards, and having not so high physical bulk. Physical Mold Breakers can shred Kyogre more easily than they could Xerneas or Mega Audino, so Kyogre would have to be more careful with that. Otherwise, it's all good. All Wonder Guards have their own set of weaknesses, but Primal Kyogre's lack of truly significant ones has caused it to be extremely consistent in high ladder usage, making it earn the S rank spot imo.
Blissey: S -> A+
Blissey is absolutely overrated. Sure, it might be the best Special Attack wall in the game, but the game is so physically dominant that even all the biggest special attackers maybe barring Mega Rayquaza run Secret Sword or Psystrike. It's more important to have physical bulk than to be the greatest special tank in the game. Blissey has harder time being able to do much of anything in front of the average Mold Breaker Pokemon or Huge Power user than Mega Audino, especially since Fighting-type is a more effective STAB/coverage option in the metagame than Poison or Steel-type moves. Even to just switch in for a turn and run Defog, Recovery, or Aromatherapy tends to be a bigger ordeal imo. It's not as usable as an S rank Pokemon should be, and I've always found the three Pokemon I put up in S to be more consistent and more effective than Blissey. Its usage stats are consistent with these thoughts, as it's generally never within the top used Wonder Guards.
Deoxys-Attack: A+ -> A
Pretty hard to justify putting it next to Mega Beedrill, Slaking, Arceus, and Blissey when it's nonexistent in comparison to all 4 of these in the format. Plus its role as a whole is a lot more niche than an upper tier Wonder Guard's should be. It only subpasses and Taunts. It's not all that effective at scouting because it's so frail, trickscarf ultimately destroys this Pokemon harder than anything else in the game, and it's immediately less effective than usual the moment something weak to Psychic isn't in a battle.
Escavalier: A- -> A
At this point I'm not sure what makes Escavalier worse than Mega Scizor. They both are similar except Escavalier can build a lot more momentum off pivoting with its base 20 speed. Some great players even say it's better than Mega Scizor nowadays.
Cresselia: B+ -> A-
imo Cresselia is just better than every other B+ Wonder Guard and not any worse than the A- squad. It's pretty good thanks to its really high bulk and capability of wishpassing effectively. Its weaknesses to Dark and U-Turn are still pretty bad though. It should be no worse than Mega Manectric and Mega Sableye regardless.
Ditto: C+ -> B
I've never used Ditto. I've only fought against it in battle. I know it's a Ditto, but Ditto has a gimmick that allows it to be faster than Mega Beedrill. This combined with its Normal-type shouldn't make Ditto any worse than Wonder Guards who are x4 weak to rock or Wonder Guards who are weak to Sheer Cold.
Drapion: B- -> B
Stuntank may exist, but Drapion is not on the level of Wonder Guards who are x4 weak to rock or Wonder Guards who are weak to Sheer Cold, which just happens to be the rest of B-.
A
No Guard
S Rank
S+
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
S
Random No Guards
A
Deoxys-Speed
Lopunny-Mega
Here's what I've changed
I removed a bunch of Pokemon and replaced Mega Mewtwo X with Random No Guards. I think Mega Mewtwo X is an obscure enough No Guard for it to fill into that gap, however that wasn't the point. People have always said Deoxys Speed was the best No Guard Pokémon in Gen 6 because it is the fastest one. However, I am breaking the mold here to explain the reality of Deoxys-Speed. In all my 9 years seeing its face on Showdown, it has never actually been consistently great at its job in Gen 6 Hackmons. Every team has to hardcore prepare for Deoxys-Speed and the average team does it so well that in each high ladder game, Deoxys-Speed next to useless. The most it can do more often than not is force hazards up. That's about it. Very many random Pokemon can run No Guard out of nowhere and perform a better job at making progress, especially if they're bulkier Pokemon. I've recently brought a Zygarde to 1700s on ladder for example and it was actually not a bad No Guard at all. In fact I felt it was better than Deoxys-Speed even. Not that Zygarde is a top tier No Guard, but the standards for Deoxys-Speed should be really low. Random No Guards rank should return, because there's technically a bunch of Pokemon you can use with the ability to throw your opponents off, and if done right they'll get the job done more consistently than Deoxys-Speed ever can, because not many if any people would know it's a No Guard ahead of time. Not only that, because Deoxys-Speed is frail, it can be revenge killed a lot more easily, unlike a bulky No Guard. I think the idea of Deoxys-Speed being top notch was for if ever a game came down to No Guard Deoxys-Speed vs another No Guard, but this is where reality comes to play. Games just about never come down to this because of how well average teams can handle Deoxys-Speed. Deoxys finds it incredibly difficult to put in much progress against any good player more often than not. Aside from that, I've placed Mega Lopunny in the same rank because it performs a similar role as Deoxys-Speed, has similar flaws, and is a Pokemon one should always generally expect to be a No Guard.
The last nomination I have is for the regular Viability Rankings
Chansey: A+ -> A
Chansey is great but it's simply not on the level of Primal Groudon, Mega Rayquaza, Mega Gyarados, or Mega Mewtwo X in terms of dominance at the moment. It's much harder to fit into a team than any of those 4 and doesn't really push to make as much progress to win a match as those 4 (which the usage stats also suggests). It's definitely not any lower than A, but I don't think it can compare to the rest of A+.
I've also made everything in this post by alphabetical order because at the end of the day, with Wonder Guard being as great at it is, it's very difficult to accurately tell when one Wonder Guard is better than another, especially in the top rank. There are certain situations where you want to use Wonder Guard over another, certain ones where you'd rather choose a lower tier Wonder Guard, it really depends on how you build your team and what for. Every Wonder Guard has a set of weaknesses and ways they could be handled, but the ones in S are not only what I see are the most consistent Wonder Guards at their jobs in the game, but the hardest ones to truly break or exploit in comparison to Wonder Guards below them. We want Wonder Guards to tank attacks, whether from No Guards or from Heavy-Hitters, and we want them to fulfill a valuable role in the team that the average non-Wonder Guard cannot do. Xerneas can stand in place as its own because of its sweep potential and being able to support while breaking, while Mega Audino outperforms everyone else at being a cleric/defogger/general support, and Primal Kyogre is an extremely adaptable Pokemon compared to the Wonder Guards below it, as teams are less inclined to bring a direct answer to it without sacrificing more consistent coverage.
Fullpass might be garbage in Gen 6, but it's actually fairly effective in Gen 7 because the vast majority of the changes Gen 7 brought help create a much more favorable environment for it. The major contributing factors are:
Prankster nerf. Dark-types being immune to Prankster means Ash Greninja isn't vulnerable to the single best counterplay to mindless setup, Prankster Encore.
Mold Breaker move introduction. This means a fully omniboosted sweeper can reliably break through Wonder Guard users. They also make Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X the most dominant offensive Pokemon in the game, meaning Photon Geyser-resistant Pokemon, many of them vulnerable to boosted Moongeist Beam, are much more common than otherwise. Because Mega Mewtwo X and other Huge Power users hit so hard, teams prioritize Fur Coat users and Photon Geyser/Sunsteel Strike-resistant Wonder Guard users over setup counterplay like PrankHaze.
A relative lack of Mold Breaker users. Mold Breaker moves are so good that Mold Breaker users are actually decently rare, outside of a few standouts like Primal Groudon and Mega Gengar. This makes Magic Bounce, what I found to be a necessary component of Fullpass, more useful in general.
The introduction of Zygarde-C. Because Zygarde-C is quite a bit fatter on both sides than the Pokemon with the next best mixed bulk (Giratina), there's less of a reason to run the latter, which means there's noticeably less Ghost Curse in the metagame.
Spectral Thief. Because Spectral Thief is such good setup deterrence, especially when Normal-types generally can't run Mold Breaker moves effectively, most teams exclusively rely on it (and/or Will-O-Wisp/Whirlwind/Prankster Destiny Bond) to deal with setup sweepers. In theory this hurts Fullpass' viability, but because Normal-types and Wonder Guard users are safe switch-ins Spectral Thief itself doesn't really hurt. It actually helps because stuff like Ghost Curse and Perish Song compete with it.
Ice-types being immune to Sheer Cold. This lets you run Magic Bounce Articuno to deal with No Guard users without hard-hitting coverage.
A relative lack of Magic Bounce and Taunt users. Magic Bounce because it can put Lovely Kiss Ash Greninja to sleep and deny hazards from non-Mold Breaker users, and Taunt because it prevents you from easily setting up.
There are a few changes that makes Fullpass harder to run, but there's nothing too major:
Innards Out. Screws over almost anything physical (or special and sufficiently boosted, like Stored Power Meloetta) that hits it. However, you can circumvent it by running a Magic Guard user as the stat recipient.
Mold Breaker move introduction (again). You have trouble against Huge Power Shell Smash users, especially Primal Groudon and Lum Berry users since they're immune to at least one Prankster Will-O-Wisp. It's possible to account for most of them in the builder though.
Wonder Guard Ash Greninja was the Pokemon I first wanted to build around, because of its Prankster immunity, ability to bluff No Guard sets and outspeed Mega Mewtwo X, and resistance or immunity to all three Mold Breaker moves. Coil and Lovely Kiss form a kinetic connection because the former fixes the latter's accuracy issues after an accuracy boost, while Lovely Kiss (and Substitute) let you accrue more boosts thanks to the free turns accumulated. Normalium Z because Z-Lovely Kiss increases Greninja's Speed, it provides a Trick absorber, and lets you Z-Baton Pass your way out if you're Taunted. Timid to outspeed Jolly Mega Mewtwo X unboosted, as well as
Magic Bounce Articuno is my Sing No Guard answer and obligatory Magic Bounce user. Whirlwind is to Imposter-proof Ash Greninja, though you can also chip offensive threats with no recovery if hazards are on the field. Quiver Dance because it complements Greninja's Coil well (Coil + Quiver Dance + Minimize covers all stats). Substitute because you really like to be behind one when you're passive and it's really easy to set with evasion boosts up. Leftovers because Leftovers + Ingrain double recovery is really useful, and you can actually outheal Stealth Rock damage with significant boosts to evasion and defenses. You outspeed base 150s with Timid at +1.
Wonder Guard Meloetta because I needed a blanket check for special sweepers. Stored Power to force in Dark-types or Wonder Guard users after enough boosts. Substitute for free turns, and Minimize for even more free turns. Meloetta rounds out the stat-boosting core of the team. Mental Herb is to circumvent Taunt once, and it can come in clutch because it's often more than one free turn gained due to Minimize.
Prankster Mega Steelix is the primary switch-in to Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X, Necrozma-DM and the like, and also sets Spikes. Will-O-Wisp to cripple opposing physical attackers (and chip non-Magic Guard foes without recovery), Sunsteel Strike to not be passive especially with Attack boosted, and Spikes to punish the opponent for switching and put opposing Zygarde-C/Mega Gyarados in +6 Slaking Extreme Speed/Sunsteel Strike range. Baton Pass lets Steelix switch out of Shadow Tag trappers safely thanks to Prankster. Leftovers because of the lack of reliable recovery, and Leftovers + Ingrain is actually enough for most games.
Magic Guard Slaking is the sweeper. Extreme Speed so Prankster Destiny Bond from Zygarde-C doesn't screw you over (with Spikes on the field); you OHKO all other neutral non-Fur Coat/Wonder Guard foes. Sunsteel Strike to target Wonder Guards, which are all 1/2HKOed at +6. Moongeist Beam might seem odd here, but at +6 you actually OHKO Mega Steelix, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Scizor, all of which otherwise give you a rather hard time. This is actually pretty relevant since getting to +6 actually isn't significantly harder than getting +1 Speed and Ingrain up. Magic Guard because you don't want your dedicated sweeper to get removed by Innards Out, and Life Orb to capitalize on Magic Guard.
Wonder Guard Mega Swampert because Shell Smash Huge Power Primal Groudon was the first Pokemon that swept my team and I didn't have a good Sunsteel Strike No Guard answer. Strength Sap because Swampert needs recovery to be able to check Shell Smash sweepers it wants to. Thousand Waves to actually hit Primal Groudon, Necrozma-DM, Kartana, and whatever else it wants to come in on. You can also trap stuff which is pretty cool. Shed Shell because I needed a way to switch out of Perish Song (and Leftovers was the most expendable on the slow Pokemon with reliable recovery), and Wonder Guard so Huge Power Primal Groudon/Necrozma-DM's Multi-Attack/Thousand Arrows don't threaten Swampert.
Now, here are some strengths/weaknesses of the team:
Strengths:
You can beat pretty much everything that doesn't prep specifically for Baton Pass. PrankHaze/Perish Song are almost useless, and the team has an alright matchup into Imposter/Huge Power users/No Guard users in general. You do have to be careful against Innards Out if you're attacking with something that isn't Slaking, though.
Weaknesses:
Dedicated counterplay. This includes PrankHaze, Perish Song, Ghost Curse, wonky Mold Breaker sweepers that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day, all that stuff. All of these kinda suck outside of the Fullpass matchup, though, so most of the time you should be good.
Comatose + Sleep Talk. This is if your Speed isn't boosted enough and Ingrain isn't set up. If Ingrain's set up or you can safely switch into Magic Bounce Articuno, you're good.
Shadow Tag Coverage. You do have to be careful against Choice Scarf Primal Groudon or Mega Rayquaza, especially if one of Articuno or Ash Greninja not behind a Substitute is on the field. You should be good most of the time though.
NToTheN counterteaming you. Just call em bad and move on.
I'm pretty happy with how this team turned out. I'm sure there are minor adjustments I could make to optimize it further but I was most interested in demonstrating that the concept of Fullpass can work in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons – while in most tiers it's usable in it's relegated to matchup fish status, in tests it performed well against the balances and soft offenses that people seem to think are the ideal archetypes in the current metagame. It's probably good enough to be a sample, and while it's admittedly hard to pilot I think that's true for most teams in general. Feel free to try and optimize the team if you're up to it.
Fullpass might be garbage in Gen 6, but it's actually fairly effective in Gen 7 because the vast majority of the changes Gen 7 brought help create a much more favorable environment for it. The major contributing factors are:
Prankster nerf. Dark-types being immune to Prankster means Ash Greninja isn't vulnerable to the single best counterplay to mindless setup, Prankster Encore.
Mold Breaker move introduction. This means a fully omniboosted sweeper can reliably break through Wonder Guard users. They also make Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X the most dominant offensive Pokemon in the game, meaning Photon Geyser-resistant Pokemon, many of them vulnerable to boosted Moongeist Beam, are much more common than otherwise. Because Mega Mewtwo X and other Huge Power users hit so hard, teams prioritize Fur Coat users and Photon Geyser/Sunsteel Strike-resistant Wonder Guard users over setup counterplay like PrankHaze.
A relative lack of Mold Breaker users. Mold Breaker moves are so good that Mold Breaker users are actually decently rare, outside of a few standouts like Primal Groudon and Mega Gengar. This makes Magic Bounce, what I found to be a necessary component of Fullpass, more useful in general.
The introduction of Zygarde-C. Because Zygarde-C is quite a bit fatter on both sides than the Pokemon with the next best mixed bulk (Giratina), there's less of a reason to run the latter, which means there's noticeably less Ghost Curse in the metagame.
Spectral Thief. Because Spectral Thief is such good setup deterrence, especially when Normal-types generally can't run Mold Breaker moves effectively, most teams exclusively rely on it (and/or Will-O-Wisp/Whirlwind/Prankster Destiny Bond) to deal with setup sweepers. In theory this hurts Fullpass' viability, but because Normal-types and Wonder Guard users are safe switch-ins Spectral Thief itself doesn't really hurt. It actually helps because stuff like Ghost Curse and Perish Song compete with it.
Ice-types being immune to Sheer Cold. This lets you run Magic Bounce Articuno to deal with No Guard users without hard-hitting coverage.
A relative lack of Magic Bounce and Taunt users. Magic Bounce because it can put Lovely Kiss Ash Greninja to sleep and deny hazards from non-Mold Breaker users, and Taunt because it prevents you from easily setting up.
There are a few changes that makes Fullpass harder to run, but there's nothing too major:
Innards Out. Screws over almost anything physical (or special and sufficiently boosted, like Stored Power Meloetta) that hits it. However, you can circumvent it by running a Magic Guard user as the stat recipient.
Mold Breaker move introduction (again). You have trouble against Huge Power Shell Smash users, especially Primal Groudon and Lum Berry users since they're immune to at least one Prankster Will-O-Wisp. It's possible to account for most of them in the builder though.
Wonder Guard Ash Greninja was the Pokemon I first wanted to build around, because of its Prankster immunity, ability to bluff No Guard sets and outspeed Mega Mewtwo X, and resistance or immunity to all three Mold Breaker moves. Coil and Lovely Kiss form a kinetic connection because the former fixes the latter's accuracy issues after an accuracy boost, while Lovely Kiss (and Substitute) let you accrue more boosts thanks to the free turns accumulated. Normalium Z because Z-Lovely Kiss increases Greninja's Speed, it provides a Trick absorber, and lets you Z-Baton Pass your way out if you're Taunted. Timid to outspeed Jolly Mega Mewtwo X unboosted, as well as
Magic Bounce Articuno is my Sing No Guard answer and obligatory Magic Bounce user. Whirlwind is to Imposter-proof Ash Greninja, though you can also chip offensive threats with no recovery if hazards are on the field. Quiver Dance because it complements Greninja's Coil well (Coil + Quiver Dance + Minimize covers all stats). Substitute because you really like to be behind one when you're passive and it's really easy to set with evasion boosts up. Leftovers because Leftovers + Ingrain double recovery is really useful, and you can actually outheal Stealth Rock damage with significant boosts to evasion and defenses. You outspeed base 150s with Timid at +1.
Wonder Guard Meloetta because I needed a blanket check for special sweepers. Stored Power to force in Dark-types or Wonder Guard users after enough boosts. Substitute for free turns, and Minimize for even more free turns. Meloetta rounds out the stat-boosting core of the team. Mental Herb is to circumvent Taunt once, and it can come in clutch because it's often more than one free turn gained due to Minimize.
Prankster Mega Steelix is the primary switch-in to Huge Power Mega Mewtwo X, Necrozma-DM and the like, and also sets Spikes. Will-O-Wisp to cripple opposing physical attackers (and chip non-Magic Guard foes without recovery), Sunsteel Strike to not be passive especially with Attack boosted, and Spikes to punish the opponent for switching and put opposing Zygarde-C/Mega Gyarados in +6 Slaking Extreme Speed/Sunsteel Strike range. Baton Pass lets Steelix switch out of Shadow Tag trappers safely thanks to Prankster. Leftovers because of the lack of reliable recovery, and Leftovers + Ingrain is actually enough for most games.
Magic Guard Slaking is the sweeper. Extreme Speed so Prankster Destiny Bond from Zygarde-C doesn't screw you over (with Spikes on the field); you OHKO all other neutral non-Fur Coat/Wonder Guard foes. Sunsteel Strike to target Wonder Guards, which are all 1/2HKOed at +6. Moongeist Beam might seem odd here, but at +6 you actually OHKO Mega Steelix, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Scizor, all of which otherwise give you a rather hard time. This is actually pretty relevant since getting to +6 actually isn't significantly harder than getting +1 Speed and Ingrain up. Magic Guard because you don't want your dedicated sweeper to get removed by Innards Out, and Life Orb to capitalize on Magic Guard.
Wonder Guard Mega Swampert because Shell Smash Huge Power Primal Groudon was the first Pokemon that swept my team and I didn't have a good Sunsteel Strike No Guard answer. Strength Sap because Swampert needs recovery to be able to check Shell Smash sweepers it wants to. Thousand Waves to actually hit Primal Groudon, Necrozma-DM, Kartana, and whatever else it wants to come in on. You can also trap stuff which is pretty cool. Shed Shell because I needed a way to switch out of Perish Song (and Leftovers was the most expendable on the slow Pokemon with reliable recovery), and Wonder Guard so Huge Power Primal Groudon/Necrozma-DM's Multi-Attack/Thousand Arrows don't threaten Swampert.
Now, here are some strengths/weaknesses of the team:
Strengths:
You can beat pretty much everything that doesn't prep specifically for Baton Pass. PrankHaze/Perish Song are almost useless, and the team has an alright matchup into Imposter/Huge Power users/No Guard users in general. You do have to be careful against Innards Out if you're attacking with something that isn't Slaking, though.
Weaknesses:
Dedicated counterplay. This includes PrankHaze, Perish Song, Ghost Curse, wonky Mold Breaker sweepers that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day, all that stuff. All of these kinda suck outside of the Fullpass matchup, though, so most of the time you should be good.
Comatose + Sleep Talk. This is if your Speed isn't boosted enough and Ingrain isn't set up. If Ingrain's set up or you can safely switch into Magic Bounce Articuno, you're good.
Shadow Tag Coverage. You do have to be careful against Choice Scarf Primal Groudon or Mega Rayquaza, especially if one of Articuno or Ash Greninja not behind a Substitute is on the field. You should be good most of the time though.
NToTheN counterteaming you. Just call em bad and move on.
I'm pretty happy with how this team turned out. I'm sure there are minor adjustments I could make to optimize it further but I was most interested in demonstrating that the concept of Fullpass can work in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons – while in most tiers it's usable in it's relegated to matchup fish status, in tests it performed well against the balances and soft offenses that people seem to think are the ideal archetypes in the current metagame. It's probably good enough to be a sample, and while it's admittedly hard to pilot I think that's true for most teams in general. Feel free to try and optimize the team if you're up to it.
I was also surprised to see this type of team to be so viable, I also expected it to be a gimmick team. Though I never used it against you, Protean Mega Mewtwo Y with Moongeist Beam and some coverage has a great matchup against this team, and should probably be included under the weaknesses. No Guard + Photon Geyser users like Mega Mewtwo Y and Necrozma formes also have good matchups, though they are significantly hindered by Ash Greninja. Mega Mewtwo Y in general is pretty good into this team if it has something to hit Meloetta. Overall, I like how this team turned out even if I got completely farmed by it.
I OBJECT TO THE NOTION THAT YOU WERE COUNTERTEAMED Huge Power Primal Groudon is a perfectly normal pick and I just wanted to try out Mold Breaker Gyarados and they just happened to have a fantastic matchup against your team this is not a counterteam I object to this.
I OBJECT TO THE NOTION THAT YOU WERE COUNTERTEAMED Huge Power Primal Groudon is a perfectly normal pick and I just wanted to try out Mold Breaker Gyarados and they just happened to have a fantastic matchup against your team this is not a counterteam I object to this.
- Revival Blessing can be called via Sleep Talk, and Torque moves (like Noxious Torque or Magical Torque) cannot. Comatose allows Sleep Talk to always be used, so Comatose + Revival Blessing is a common and powerful strategy
- Ability Shield prevents Neutralizing Gas from nullifying the holder's ability. It additionally ignores the effects of Mold Breaker.
- Eternatus-Eternamax can overflow one of its defenses by have 240+ EVs in that stat. This makes it take 1 damage from either physical moves or special moves, depending on which defense stat it is invested in.
- Photon Geyser, Moongeist Beam, Sunsteel Strike, and their Z-Move variants are called "moldy moves," and they function as if the user has Mold Breaker whenever they are used. In practice, this means that these moves can hit Wonder Guard users regardless of if they are weak to the moves, and Photon Geyser and Sunsteel Strike will do double damage against Fur Coat users.
- Crystal-Free Z-Moves (or CFZs) like Searing Sunraze Smash and Let's Snuggle Forever can be used on any Pokemon without the need for a Z-Crystal. Searing Sunraze Smash, Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom, and Light that Burns the Sky are all moldy moves. CFZs also ignore the target's protection, so using King's Shield or Spiky Shield against a CFZ attack will do nothing.
- Grassy Terrain, Psychic Terrain, and Electric Terrain give 1.5x boosts to Grass, Psychic, and Electric type moves respectively
- Figy Berry and its equivalents restore 50% HP instead of 33%
"Vicious Sun Balance" by Tmi489 uses tech that is no longer implemented on showdown. During the time of this team's creation, it was assumed that Copycat could be used to "chain" Whirlwind, Roar, etc for infinite phazing. However, it was later discovered that this was not the case, and was removed from showdown as a result. The Giratina-Altered in this team originally took advantage of that strategy, but since it no longer works the team it is considered and has been removed from this list of sample teams. With approval from other Pure Hackmons council members and Tmi489, I have added my own team "Dual Lati Offense" to the list in its place.
- Fire Fang, Doom Desire, and Future Sight bypass Wonder Guard. This means that Wonder Guard users will take damage from these moves regardless of if they are weak to it.
- Magic Coat does not reflect Encore, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Taunt, Roar, or Whirlwind.
- All Pokemon must use either their native abilities or No Ability. This means Slaking can rid itself of Truant if it wants to, but cannot run abilities like Pure Power or Shadow Tag.
- Doom Desire, Future Sight, and Struggle bypass Wonder Guard, but it's usually not relevant since the only Wonder Guard user is Shedinja.
- You can only obtain one Deoxys forme per team, but you can have multiple of that Pokemon. You may use 2 Deoxys-S for example, but not a Deoxys-S and a Deoxys-A
- When a Pokemon has the Imposter ability, all stats are copied except the HP stat, which remains constant regardless of what the Imposter user is transformed into. Additionally, most Pokemon-specific items still work. Chansey will still receive a defense boost from Eviolite, and Pikachu will receive a damage increase from Light Ball, for example.
- In generations 4-7, Arceus is always a Normal-type Pokemon, unless it has both Multitype and an Arceus Plate. See this post for more details.
- No Guard allows moves like Sheer Cold and Fissure to bypass accuracy checks, meaning they will always land. Wonder Guard users are the typical counter to this strategy
- Defog clears the opponent's side of hazards in generations 4 and 5, and does not clear all hazards until generation 6.
- Foul Play is boosted by your ability, not the opponent's. It will not do increased damage if the opponent has Huge Power, but will do increased damage if you have Huge Power
- In generations 4-6, Dark Void's Accuracy is 80% and is not restricted to Darkrai. In generations 7 onward, only Darkrai can use Dark Void and its accuracy is 50%
- In generations 7 onward, burn damage deals 6.25% maximum HP every turn, and Dark-type Pokemon can no longer be the target of status moves when used by a Prankster user.
Let me know if there are any inaccuracies or resources I should add.
A couple Gen 7 noms after laddering for a few days. I might nom some more later but this is what I'm set on for the time being.
REGULAR:
S --> S+. Chansey (and Blissey as an echo) are the best mons in the game, having two meta-defining sets in Innards Out and Imposter. The former allows you to proactively trade against almost anything (Chansey can set up hazards and whatnot, while Blissey has the option to run Shell Smash Boomburst sets) with no repercussion, while the latter is splashable enough that on ladder it should be used on every non-hyper offensive team imo. Clearly more splashable than MMX, and is about as taxing in the builder.
Wonder Guard S --> S+.
S- --> S. Amazingly splashable defensive mon that's deceptively hard to take advantage of. You really need tools like Ice Shard Huge Power/Clangorous Soulblaze Mega Rayquaza/Z-Fairy MMX to get rid of it in one go. While better pure physical walls exist (Fur Coat Steelix, Wonder Guard Slowbro), these are vulnerable to common special sweepers/breakers and are themselves vulnerable to coverage from MMX like Searing Shot and Moongeist Beam, respectively. If I had to guess Zygarde-C has ~60% usage in high-level games, and the value increases when not taking into account hyper offensive builds.
MMX also has more competition these days and is a little frail for today's metagame; it also really only fits on more offensive team structures (balances that rely on it as the sole breaker are bad). Still not a bad mon by any means, but I feel that at this point ranking Zygarde-C alongside it is appropriate.
In all seriousness, this is an insane offensive mon that fits on pretty much any non-hard stall/psyspam archetype. Huge Power Thousand Arrows/Ground-type Multi-Attack actually somewhat hurts Imposter, while Ice Shard goobs most Zygarde-C and Sunsteel Strike is great coverage in general. On hard offensive builds you can spam it and it'll often get multiple moves off due to its insane physical bulk. People've been running Water Shuriken mons on ladder specifically for Primal Groudon spam and I think that should say something. Primal Groudon is clearly better than the other A+ mons and deserves a rise to S-.
A --> A-. These aren't bad mons but they are rather hard to fit. Huge Power revenger sets only really deal with non-Wonder Guard sweepers with minimal support, like crappy non-Psychic Surge MMX spam offenses, and Misty Surge sets lack power vs almost everything you'd want to revenge. Slaking's probably slightly better since physical attacks are more prevalent, both mons are immune to Moongeist Beam, and Slaking can run Innards Out to some degree, but neither is good enough for flat A rank imo.
C --> B. Easier to justify using than like half of B rank actually, No Guard Sing is easily one of the most obnoxious game elements to play or build around and Magic Bounce Articuno takes care of it in the vast majority of scenarios. Its bulk isn't even bad either, since it takes around 80 from +2 Modest Gengar's Moongeist Beam (and also eat boosted MMY's Photon Geyser unless it's something uncommon like Life Orb), meaning it functions as a Magic Bounce user against passive hazard setters/Parting Shot users. 4x Stealth Rock weakness hurts, but you can deny Stealth Rock against most potential setters. Maybe not Steel-types though. Which brings me to...
UR --> C. Sheer Cold-immune Magic Bouncer that doesn't immediately fold to Sunsteel Strike. While its physical bulk isn't amazing (takes ~80 from +2 Kartana's Sunsteel Strike, and about the same from Huge Power MMX's Photon Geyser), it's just enough for it to come into things without Stealth Rock on the field. Despite its abysmal special bulk and Mega Slowbro existing, No Guard (Sheer Cold) users being busted makes Cloyster just good enough to be C rank imo.
UR --> C. Grass-type support Magic Guard that outspeeds unboosted Mewtwos/Mega Gengar. Best suited for hyper offense.
WONDER GUARD:
(?) A --> A+. Over the past week it's become clear that Mega Scizor is less splashable than Mega Gyarados and Mega Slowbro, as it only really checks non-Life Orb/Mind Plate MMX on balance structures, which I find overrated. Gyarados also comes in on a fair number of special attackers (though sweepers often run coverage that can threaten it), and Slowbro is an actual MMX check, though it does lose to Moongeist Beam and Beat Up variants. These two are also clearly better than Cresselia and Kartana. Ash Greninja could also rise slightly, though I don't know for sure since I haven't been on the receiving end of The Metagross Set much.
B- --> B+/A-. Actually really nice Wonder Guard because it's immune to Spikes and is effectively only Fire-weak because Electric moves are essentially irrelevant. It's immune to Spikes, unlike Mega Scizor, and has slightly lower Speed and higher special bulk, which isn't a bad deal honestly.
B --> B+. I don't rate this as highly as most other players (due to Spectral Thief/Pursuit weaknesses and reliance on Spectral Thief/Photon Geyser to hit stuff) but it's better than the niche mons in B.
UR --> B-/B. I've only used Skuntank on one team (full pass), but on that one team in particular it's easily justifiable over Alolan Muk because at +1 it outspeeds everything bar Pheromosa and Deoxys-S. It has better special bulk than Drapion (and both die to Thousand Arrows, though Drapion needs slight chip) so I think it's better, though Drapion could also be ranked if people want it to be.
C --> B-/B. Immune to Fissure over Primal Groudon while still being Sunsteel Strike-resistant. Definitely a little frailer on the physical side but it's still fat enough to do what it needs to. Probably not better than the stuff in B rank though.
B --> B-/C. After some more reflection, I was too generous with this mon. In all honesty, offensively this is just bad – you're actually walled by Prankster Zygarde-C unless you run something wacky like Mental Herb or Z-Fairy. Your Sunsteel Strike's also pretty weak, and you've got some competition in Kartana/Mega Scizor/Necrozma-DM/Solgaleo as abusers of the move, and Mega Gardevoir as a Moonblast abuser. Defensively this might have some merit but I don't think it's seriously worth running unless you've got a damn good reason to use it.
B --> C. Even worse than Magearna. Sweeper sets break through pretty much nothing (in a metagame that necessarily preps for Huge Power MMX) and there are better ways to deal with No Guard on hyper offense. STAB Photon Geyser is nice I guess but good luck Imposter-proofing that.
UR --> C. Got some theoretical applications as a Shell Smash sweeper – much like in Gen 6, it can run Fist Plate Judgment to Imposter-proof, as after a Shell Smash you take 78 max from Imposter's Sunsteel Strike and are able to OHKO back. Tried it in a game and it wasn't that bad.
Been laddering for a bit, and I'm currently at 1517, or 13th on the ladder in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons (IGN is NoHaxJustCanFly, proof is at the bottom of the post), so it seemed about time to do a write-up on my team and see if anyone has any advice. Here's my current build: https://pokepast.es/4d927421ab3ad644
(help how do you do the fancy animated clickable image link thing with all 6 mons)
_________________________________________________________________________
Deoxys-Speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 SpA
- Gastro Acid
- Sheer Cold
- Stealth Rock
- Sing
Chansey @ Lum Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA
- Whirlwind
- Shore Up
- Magic Coat
- Sticky Web
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Photon Geyser
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Extreme Speed
This Hyper Offense team starts out pretty standard with your usual Sing-No Guard Deoxys-S lead. I figure you've all seen this before, and it isn't anything too unique. Next is an Innards Out Chansey that is again pretty standard, and I stole it from some pokepaste that I found a while ago. The MMX set is the usual Pure Power version, and I also stole this one from a pokepaste a while ago. Of note is Play Rough, which hits Gyarados-M and Zygarde, but my current set is walled by Steelix-M, so I'm considering dropping Knock Off for something to hit Steelix.
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn
- Aqua Jet
- Switcheroo
The Scarf Kartana is where I feel like the team starts getting interesting, and although this isn't my Kartana set either (my two major contributions are the last two mons), I really like this set. It's generally the mon that cleans up at the end, and oftentimes you can sneak it in early game to get a cheeky Sunsteel Strike KO, U-Turn out for momentum, or cripple an opposing Steelix by giving it a Scarf. Aqua Jet is there specifically for cleaning up Magic Guard users who are immune to Innards Out (and unlike ESpeed, it hits Gengar-M), but I've been debating replacing it with another move.
Fifth is Gyarados @ Gyaradosite, which is easily one of my favorite mons to use in Pure Hackmons. If you take away nothing else from this team, just remember that Gyarados @ Gyaradosite is the single best coolest mon to grace Pure Hackmons. For those of you unaware, Gyarados-M's ability is Mold Breaker, which allows it to hit Wonder Guard mons. The idea of this set is that with Wonder Guard as your ability, you click Shell Smash. Gyarados is bulky enough that it can usually eat one unboosted Photon Geyser, Moongeist Beam, or Sunsteel Strike. Even if you can't, Mega Evolving early will pretty much guarantee that you live any of those three moves (unboosted). Once you're happy with your stats, you Mega and spam Power Trip.
If your opponent has an Imposter mon, you can delay the Mega Evolution and instead click Photon Geyser until they switch in their Imposter. They're probably clicking Photon Geyser because of your Wonder Guard, so when you Mega, your dark typing gives you immunity to their Photon Geyser and you can whack them with a Power Trip that ignores their Wonder Guard. Even if you're forced to Mega before they switch in their Imposter, Gyarados-M lives its own Power Trip after one Shell Smash: +2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Gyarados-Mega Power Trip (140 BP) vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Gyarados-Mega: 319-376 (80.9 - 95.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO! So if you have enough chip, you can even sweep through their Imposter mon. As another added bonus, Gyarados-M is dark type, so it's immune to Prankster!
One final note - I was running Beat Up Gyarados for a while to hit Magic Guard Focus Sash mons (or just regular Sashed mons if I didn't have rocks up), but I think I like this version with Photon Geyser better. I usually don't click Taunt though, so I'm considering bringing back Beat Up or otherwise replacing Taunt with some other move.
Last but not least is Illusion PDon, which is the newest member on my team. This slot was previously filled by Illusion Deoxys-Attack, and a janky Leppa Berry Deoxys-Attack before that. I'm still testing this PDon out though, and I would appreciate any advice. My main goal with PDon is to get it to disguise as a Chansey, thus discouraging the opponent from attacking into it. Now that I've revealed this in public, it's probably less likely to work, but I'm still trying to find some way to make Illusion work. The main notable move here is Let's Snuggle Forever, which is here mainly to hit Wonder Guard Gyarados-M (as well as the occasional Zygarde), and Thousand Waves is also noteworthy in that it traps your opponent's Innards Out answer with your PDon, which is often a bad matchup for them.
_________________________________________________________________________
Regarding overall strategy, I pretty much always lead Deoxys-S, but I've considered leading PDon disguised as Deoxys-S a few times (although I've never actually followed through with it, but maybe against an Articuno team?). I set my last mon as Chansey for PDon's Illusion since there usually isn't a better option to disguise PDon as. From there, I win the speed tie against my opponent's Deoxys and do the usual Deoxys shennanigans. If my opponent has an Articuno or another common Magic Bouncer on their team, I often will instead T1 switch to Kartana to try to catch the Articuno switch-in and get some tempo. Eventually, I usually end up in a position where it's profitable to go into MMX, Gyarados, or PDon disguised as Chansey. From there, the goal is to just forcibly push through my opponent's Innards Out mons, Imposters, Steelixes, and whatever else may be hindering Kartana from clicking Sunsteel Strike and winning. It's also often useful to save Deoxys-S for the late game, as the opponent's answers to Deoxys-S often get sacrificed to get their checks for my sweepers in position.
Overall, I've had a ton of fun playing Gen 7 PH, and I'll keep playing this format (as well as other PHs) for as long as they exist. I may try to brew something new (still with Gyarados @ Gyaradosite, ofc) if I find too many people know about my Illusion shennanigans, though. Thanks for reading all this, let me know if you have any recommendations about team improvements, and may the Deoxys-S speed ties be ever in your favor.
Been laddering for a bit, and I'm currently at 1517, or 13th on the ladder in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons (IGN is NoHaxJustCanFly, proof is at the bottom of the post), so it seemed about time to do a write-up on my team and see if anyone has any advice. Here's my current build: https://pokepast.es/4d927421ab3ad644
(help how do you do the fancy animated clickable image link thing with all 6 mons)
_________________________________________________________________________
View attachment 551808
Deoxys-Speed @ Focus Sash
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 SpA
- Gastro Acid
- Sheer Cold
- Stealth Rock
- Sing
View attachment 551809
Chansey @ Lum Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Gentle Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA
- Whirlwind
- Shore Up
- Magic Coat
- Sticky Web
View attachment 551810
Mewtwo-Mega-X @ Life Orb
Ability: Pure Power
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Photon Geyser
- Knock Off
- Play Rough
- Extreme Speed
This Hyper Offense team starts out pretty standard with your usual Sing-No Guard Deoxys-S lead. I figure you've all seen this before, and it isn't anything too unique. Next is an Innards Out Chansey that is again pretty standard, and I stole it from some pokepaste that I found a while ago. The MMX set is the usual Pure Power version, and I also stole this one from a pokepaste a while ago. Of note is Play Rough, which hits Gyarados-M and Zygarde, but my current set is walled by Steelix-M, so I'm considering dropping Knock Off for something to hit Steelix.
View attachment 551794
Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Sunsteel Strike
- U-turn
- Aqua Jet
- Switcheroo
The Scarf Kartana is where I feel like the team starts getting interesting, and although this isn't my Kartana set either (my two major contributions are the last two mons), I really like this set. It's generally the mon that cleans up at the end, and oftentimes you can sneak it in early game to get a cheeky Sunsteel Strike KO, U-Turn out for momentum, or cripple an opposing Steelix by giving it a Scarf. Aqua Jet is there specifically for cleaning up Magic Guard users who are immune to Innards Out (and unlike ESpeed, it hits Gengar-M), but I've been debating replacing it with another move.
Fifth is Gyarados @ Gyaradosite, which is easily one of my favorite mons to use in Pure Hackmons. If you take away nothing else from this team, just remember that Gyarados @ Gyaradosite is the single best coolest mon to grace Pure Hackmons. For those of you unaware, Gyarados-M's ability is Mold Breaker, which allows it to hit Wonder Guard mons. The idea of this set is that with Wonder Guard as your ability, you click Shell Smash. Gyarados is bulky enough that it can usually eat one unboosted Photon Geyser, Moongeist Beam, or Sunsteel Strike. Even if you can't, Mega Evolving early will pretty much guarantee that you live any of those three moves (unboosted). Once you're happy with your stats, you Mega and spam Power Trip.
If your opponent has an Imposter mon, you can delay the Mega Evolution and instead click Photon Geyser until they switch in their Imposter. They're probably clicking Photon Geyser because of your Wonder Guard, so when you Mega, your dark typing gives you immunity to their Photon Geyser and you can whack them with a Power Trip that ignores their Wonder Guard. Even if you're forced to Mega before they switch in their Imposter, Gyarados-M lives its own Power Trip after one Shell Smash: +2 252+ Atk Mold Breaker Gyarados-Mega Power Trip (140 BP) vs. -1 252 HP / 252 Def Gyarados-Mega: 319-376 (80.9 - 95.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO! So if you have enough chip, you can even sweep through their Imposter mon. As another added bonus, Gyarados-M is dark type, so it's immune to Prankster!
One final note - I was running Beat Up Gyarados for a while to hit Magic Guard Focus Sash mons (or just regular Sashed mons if I didn't have rocks up), but I think I like this version with Photon Geyser better. I usually don't click Taunt though, so I'm considering bringing back Beat Up or otherwise replacing Taunt with some other move.
Last but not least is Illusion PDon, which is the newest member on my team. This slot was previously filled by Illusion Deoxys-Attack, and a janky Leppa Berry Deoxys-Attack before that. I'm still testing this PDon out though, and I would appreciate any advice. My main goal with PDon is to get it to disguise as a Chansey, thus discouraging the opponent from attacking into it. Now that I've revealed this in public, it's probably less likely to work, but I'm still trying to find some way to make Illusion work. The main notable move here is Let's Snuggle Forever, which is here mainly to hit Wonder Guard Gyarados-M (as well as the occasional Zygarde), and Thousand Waves is also noteworthy in that it traps your opponent's Innards Out answer with your PDon, which is often a bad matchup for them.
_________________________________________________________________________
Regarding overall strategy, I pretty much always lead Deoxys-S, but I've considered leading PDon disguised as Deoxys-S a few times (although I've never actually followed through with it, but maybe against an Articuno team?). I set my last mon as Chansey for PDon's Illusion since there usually isn't a better option to disguise PDon as. From there, I win the speed tie against my opponent's Deoxys and do the usual Deoxys shennanigans. If my opponent has an Articuno or another common Magic Bouncer on their team, I often will instead T1 switch to Kartana to try to catch the Articuno switch-in and get some tempo. Eventually, I usually end up in a position where it's profitable to go into MMX, Gyarados, or PDon disguised as Chansey. From there, the goal is to just forcibly push through my opponent's Innards Out mons, Imposters, Steelixes, and whatever else may be hindering Kartana from clicking Sunsteel Strike and winning. It's also often useful to save Deoxys-S for the late game, as the opponent's answers to Deoxys-S often get sacrificed to get their checks for my sweepers in position.
Overall, I've had a ton of fun playing Gen 7 PH, and I'll keep playing this format (as well as other PHs) for as long as they exist. I may try to brew something new (still with Gyarados @ Gyaradosite, ofc) if I find too many people know about my Illusion shennanigans, though. Thanks for reading all this, let me know if you have any recommendations about team improvements, and may the Deoxys-S speed ties be ever in your favor.
Really unique team! Illusion is a very interesting ability that doesn't see much use in Pure Hackmons, especially in Gen 7. I know a few teams in gen 6 that utilize it pretty well, but this is the first I think I've seen for gen 7. I also really like the Scarf Kartana set. In general, I think Sunsteel Strike + Trick is powerful, since the most common Trick immune Pokemon is Darkinium-Z Mega Audino. I actually don't think any Pokemon really likes switching into this, Solgalium-Z Necrozma-Dusk-Mane is probably the most consistent switchin, but it gets chipped by U-Turn a lot. I would like to see this Pokemon paired with a Shadow Tag user, to remove those pesky Z-Crystal and Mega Stone users to allow Kartana to ravage the opposing team.
I also wasn't expecting to see Gyaradosite Gyarados, lol. I don't think it's nearly as strong in Gen 7 as it is in Gen 6. For one, it can be difficult to use defensively, as even though it resists Sunsteel Strike, its bulk is fairly low for PH standards and it's weak to rocks. Additionally, it doesn't really imposter-proof itself all that well, unless you stay in your base form. However, once you've mega evolved, Imposter Chansey completely crushes it, and likely the rest of the team if your Innards Out Chansey has fainted. Gyaradosite Gyarados is difficult to use, and I don't really think its reward justifies its use. That's just my opinion, of course. Personally, I would use a set like this:
This is a set I first saw Ransei use. Not only does this Imposter-proof itself with Fairy Memory Multi Attack, but it is amazing defensively. Although you need to be near full health to safely Imposter-proof, I have found this set to be very consistent in checking offensive threats while dishing out insane damage back with Power Trip and Sunsteel Strike. Additionally, you are immune to Prankster status and most attacking moves, so this makes a fantastic counter to most Prankster Mega Steelix, and some Fur Coat Mega Steelix, which this team otherwise struggles against.
Finally, I'd consider using Innards Out Blissey, or Innards Out Lunala over Chansey here. Since you are running hyper offense, you'd really like to be able to threaten your opponent's team at all times. Innards Out Lunala with Lunalium-Z is straightforward in this regard, but this team has nothing to Imposter-proof it, even Mega Gyarados fails. Innards Out Blissey with Shell Smash, Baton Pass, and Taunt is another way to pressure the opponent while being able to be used as a sacrifice. The benefits here are that it is easily Imposter-proofed by Mega Gyarados, and synergizes very well with your attackers like Kartana and MMX.
Very unique team! I like it a lot, and it's cool to see you did so well with it.
A new sample team has been added to the gen 7 roster!
Power Trip Mega Gyarados + Ice Shard Leppa MMX by NToTheN
Additionally, since we are well into the monthly ladder at this point, we are accepting new sample teams for Gen 7 Pure Hackmons! Pass us your favorite and strongest teams, and see if they get added to the now-growing list!
September ended meaning our month for Gen 7 Pure Hackmons's first ladder is over. We finally got a chance to unveil how Gen 7 Pure Hackmons is really like at full force. I'm thankful the metagame has been given this opportunity and I had the chance to play it out. I have a lot of thoughts about this metagame as a whole so buckle up. For some background information and resources, I've played the first ever Gen 7 PH ladder game, played roughly 475 ladder games, peaked the ladder 3 times, had 5 accounts at 1500+ elo simultaneously, and made 87.2 GXE at most, tho like aerobee and their 87.5, I also could've made higher GXE if I wanted to. For additional information, I was also the first ever leader of Gen 7 Pure Hackmons and this is where the development of all Pure Hackmons really started to kick in to where it is today, which I admit did contribute to my passion of going all out on this ladder during the first half of the month. This meant a lot to me.
(Peak 1)
(Peak 2 + Peak 2 20 elo higher + the same peak 8 hours later)
(Peak 3, as too many guards)
Not peak but very close
(as PHTL, third highest gxe on ladder behind aerobee's (Gen7PHDomination) 87.5 and arkeis's 88.2)
PHTL, too many guards, Ransei, Key Sketcher, Testing Team 001
These were the most successful teams I've ran on the ladder. (Click on the Pokemon icons for the teams) - Spooky Scary Hackmon (A revised offense team I built in 2019 which somehow made the 1604 ladder peak) - Spooky Scary Hackmon (Same as above but with Ash Gren over Chansey. Ash Gren also helped make peak) - Thanos World (Balance Team I made 87 GXE with. This was my best team. Will make an RMT for it sometime) - Ferrothorn Rocks (Offense team I kept making 1500s with and nearly peaked. Probably the team I used most) - Too many guards (HO Team that helped me nearly make 1500s peak prior to Spooky Scary Hackmon) - Mold Breaker MMY Balance (Not as good as the other teams but this still made 1500s on an alt) - Water Bubble Gren Offense (Team I used a bit throughout the 1500s. I find it pretty good) - Dual Primal Groudon Offense (Team I quickly spiraled up to 1400s with very early on)
I have a heckton of other Gen 7 Pure Hackmons replays including solid ones I could've missed posting but I'll be on this segment of the post all day if I want to link all of them so if you want to check the rest out use this https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/?0.3100507788667817 and type Ransei, PHTL, Key Sketcher, Testing Team 001, too many guards, Cats and Rabbits, Ultra Hackmons. I also had some really cool Gen 6 Pure Hackmons games from last month as well from Ransei, Pokemari, Garde Mystik, and Fuego II Ironworks.
Based on my experience throughout the ladder, I have a great chunk of suggestions to make about the Viability Rankings. It's enough to be considered an overhaul, at least for A- and above.
Welcome to the Pure Hackmons Viability Rankings. This is one of the many resources made to help players determine what can be considered viable in the metagame. These rankings are placed in viability order in S rank and then alphabetical order below. Any ability ranked is placed last for convenience. Anyone is free to put their thoughts on any Pokémon and debate on whether or not they need a rank change as long as they are reasonable. Provide clear evidence for reasons why a Pokémon should have a change in rank, and be civil about it. We want what we can believe to be closer to fact than subjective opinions.
S Rank
S+ Rank
Chansey
Blissey
Wonder Guard
S Rank
S+
Audino-Mega
S
Gyarados-Mega
S-
Greninja-Ash
Slowbro-Mega
A reminder that after this point pokemon are ranked alphabetically.
A Rank
A+
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
A
Arceus
Ferrothorn
Scizor-Mega
Slaking
A-
Kartana
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Meloetta
Oranguru
Muk-Alola
Sableye-Mega
B Rank
B+
Cresselia
Celesteela
Gardevoir-Mega
Groudon-Primal
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Houndoom-Mega
Hoopa-Unbound
Magearna
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Type: Null
Solgaleo
B
Blissey
Chansey
Pheromosa
Yveltal
B-
Aggron-Mega
Deoxys-Speed
Kyogre-Primal
Lopunny-Mega
Steelix-Mega
C Rank
Beedrill-Mega
Bisharp
Deoxys-Attack
Dialga
Ditto
Escavalier
Regigigas
Sableye @ Sablenite
Swampert-Mega
S Rank
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Zygarde-Complete
S-
Steelix-Mega
Gengar-Mega
Doublade
A reminder that after this point pokemon are ranked alphabetically.
A Rank
A+ Rank
Deoxys-Attack
Greninja-Ash
Groudon-Primal
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
A Rank
Regigigas
Slaking
Solgaleo
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Rayquaza-Mega
A- Rank
Deoxys-Speed
Diancie-Mega
Gyarados-Mega
Kartana
Lopunny-Mega
Lunala
Slowbro-Mega
B Rank
Arceus
Banette-Mega
Celesteela
Cresselia
Excadrill
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Guzzlord
Ho-Oh
Kyogre-Primal
Kyurem-Black
Metagross-Mega
Necrozma-Ultra
Registeel
Sceptile-Mega
Type: Null
Yveltal
C Rank
Articuno
Gardevoir-Mega
Groudon @ Red Orb
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Lugia
Pheromosa
Pikachu
Shedinja
Tyranitar-Mega
Xerneas
Blacklist - Do not discuss putting these on the VR Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
Pure Fire-types in the metagame don't stand very well as Wonder Guards as they for the most part are outclassed by other possible Wonder Guards such as Primal Groudon and Alolan Muk for having similar but less weaknesses, and usually higher defensive stats. However, the main strategy of a Pure Fire-type Pokemon with Wonder Guard is to utilize the move Burn Up, a move that removes a Pokemon's Fire-type after successfully hitting. With many viable Wonder Guards in the metagame, these types of Pokemon should find it hard to be able to successfully hit an attack, and even if they do, they can still be forced to switch either by phazing or by matchup, causing them to have to redo their main strategy. It is also worth noting that the ability of Wonder Guards to carry four moves in this metagame is a gift. Most of them use their four moves in order to support, recover themselves, boost stats, inflict status, and/or throw hazards. Their type combination is good enough to handle on their own without the absolute need to provide a move to get rid of their type. Pure Fire-type Pokemon who follow the Burn Up strategy can also struggle more heavily against Mold Breaker/Turboblaze/Teravolt Pokemon or Pokemon that have Photon Geyser or Moongeist Beam, making the entire point of the strategy lose any value it had.
Post to stack on explanation: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pure-hackmons.3656851/page-3#post-8375359
Here's what I have to explain. To start off, I made the rankings ordered by viability within the S subranks, and alphabetically for anything lower. This is because I believe there is quite a large gap between the S subranks and what's below them and each of the S subrank Pokemon are not too difficult to distinguish.
S Rank
S+ Rank
Chansey
Chansey is the best Pokemon in this metagame, period. Between being able to scout with Imposter, revenge against sweepers who lack improof or had improof KOed, and being the best user of the oppressive Innards Out ability, this Pokemon has proven itself to be quite remarkably more usable than anything else in the metagame by a good margin.
Blissey
Chansey is better overall but Blissey performs closely enough to Chansey to be within the same subrank. It's also not completely outclassed, as the 10 extra HP can either be used to overcome Innards Out Chansey while it's Imposter, or to overcome Imposter Chansey while it's Innards Out. Small niche but when it's nearly as threatening as Chansey in every other way I find it difficult to rank lower.
Wonder Guard
Wonder Guard is not as great as it was in Gen 6 but I'd argue it's about as necessary if not more due to how much more threatening No Guard users have become. Wonder Guards are not as consistent due to Mold Breaker moves being able to bypass them and common abusers having coverage to break past moldy resistances, but there are a small handful of Wonder Guards who carry players well enough to where it's still an incredibly dominant ability.
S Rank
S+
Audino-Mega
The ladder proved that everything I said about Mega Audino here is fact. It's definitely not perfect, but it is the best here by a decently good margin. Aside from that, I want to emphasize that Poison-type coverage brings a significant opportunity cost as Chansey, Blissey, and Dark-types dominate the game. Any strong special attacker will struggle a lot more heavily from sacrificing fighting coverage, fairy coverage, or utility for a Poison-type move. This also makes it very convenient to pair Mega Audino up with a special attacker in a core.
Ransei — 10/02/2023 11:20 PM
Mega Audino was the most used Wonder Guard
by like 1%
Ball Blaster — 10/03/2023 7:13 PM
Even when it was weak to sunsteel?
Ransei — 10/03/2023 7:32 PM
The thing about that is
The sunsteel weakness is so overblown
There are so many physical tanks that can switch into that move for Mega Audino
and cover up for it
Moongeist is a worse weakness to have for a Wonder Guard
Because there is a much more limited range of options to cover up for that
All the most tanky Pokémon in the game take more from it or coverage Moongeist users often have
and Sunsteel soakers are kinda mandatory regardless
For everything that doesn't have a powerful Sunsteel
Mega Audino can come in and wall
If your one major weakness is a type you are required to have hardwalls for in order to be consistent regardless of whether or not you are in the team, the amount of synergy you make is masterful
Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Primal Groudon, Mega Steelix, Mega Gyarados, Zygarde-Complete, Dawn Wings, Mega Gengar are all great examples
Mega Audi is the most splashable WG in the game in part due to this
Sunsteel weakness is also a lot easier to play around
than any sort of moongeist / common coverage weakness
Maudi is single-handedly why Moongeist isn't the best Moldy move
NToTheN — 10/03/2023 7:38 PM
near the end of the ladder I stopped using maudino as much
Ransei — 10/03/2023 7:38 PM
Because Moongeist + coverage runs over Fur Coat walls, runs over offense mons that dominate
runs over more top tier threats in general
and moongeist users can't rly afford to run a poison move slot
over fighting or fairy this gen
Stuff like Mega Slowbro, steels, Mega Gyarados have weaknesses that are more difficult to consistently handle
Especially against low to mid ladder
+ aren't as great utility-wise
Ransei — 10/03/2023 7:47 PM
Electric / Fire weakness is more critical in this meta esp when No Guard is overall better, but the waters in general have multiple different weakness that cannot be easily predicted or played around
S
Gyarados-Mega
Mega Gyarados is a monster who is good at soaking up Mold Breaker moves and being able to sweep back whenever it seizes the opportunity. It was used tremendously throughout the ladder for this purpose and has proven itself to be among the top tier of Wonder Guards. However, several things prevent it from being on Mega Audino's level, or close enough to match the same subrank. Firstly, while Mega Audino's one great weakness is a Mold Breaker move, that one Mold Breaker move is notably easier to play around than Mega Gyarados's stack of weaknesses. Every team is required to have some sort of great Sunsteel Strike answer, and there are so many that coverage cannot be consistently ran for each of the best ones simultaneously. Sunsteel Strike is much easier to predict on Pokemon and this allows you to use the Wonder Guard much more safely. Mega Gyarados, while it either blocks or resists all 3 Moldy Moves, Moldy Move users very frequently run random coverage for Mega Gyarados that not enough switchins can account for and it's a lot more difficult to predict whether or not they have said coverage. In my case, I noticed a lot of random electric-type coverage, especially from Crystal-Free Z-moves stemming from low ladder players. In addition, fighting and fairy are some of the best coverage moves in the game. You really cannot be sure if Mega Gyarados is gonna be safe sometimes. Zygarde-Complete isn't a good cover up sometimes because both it and Mega Gyarados share a fairy weakness. Mega Slowbro isn't a good cover up sometimes because special attackers tend to have Moongeist Beam + fairy/fighting coverage. Mega Steelix isn't a great cover up because it does not take a Moongeist very well. This all turns out very problematic for Mega Gyarados in the end, making it not as consistent. Not to mention Mega Gyarados isn't great against special attackers in general since a significant chunk of them are going to run some random super effective coverage that works because of how many weaknesses it has. Additionally, Mega Gyarados heavily relies on the a Shell Smash sweeper set, which while it worked for this month's ladder, is certain not to be as effective in the long run as Innards Out is a very strong play against this set and people will try to knock it down with that. Once Mega Gyarados gets knocked down, they can bring out No Guard to have a much easier time. Innards Out is the most oppressive ability in the game. Mega Audino can play around it very well, while Mega Gyarados's best sets as Wonder Guard cannot. Last but not least, to sum it all up, I've said this a lot and believe this still strongly applies, but, to be blunt, these are the reasons why the best photon geyser/sunsteel strike wall is never a Wonder Guard. A Wonder Guard trying to wall all moldy moves at once is only gonna last so long. I believe as time moves on, the gap between Mega Gyarados and Mega Audino will be more noticeable.
S-
Greninja-Ash
Ash Greninja is like Mega Gyarados except it sacrifices bulk for speed. This lets it outspeed Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Gengar but in return it's much less able to take a Sunsteel Strike very well and is even more prone to getting nuked by random coverage. With that being said, S- isn't a very high bar for Wonder Guards in this metagame, and Ash Greninja is likely better than everything below.
Slowbro-Mega
Honestly this was more aerobee's suggestion instead of my own and I haven't really used Mega Slowbro myself, but I agreed it could be up here because it's one of the main pillars for what's needed to be consistent in the metagame, alongside Prankster/Fur Coat Mega Steelix, Zygarde-Complete, and Doublade. You need an extremely defensive wall that is able to take physical mold breaker moves and while this is the worst one of those pillars, it can still be very useful. The big reason why this isn't higher is for much of the same reasons as Mega Gyarados, plus being weak to Moongeist Beam is actually much worse than being weak to Sunsteel Strike despite not being as common. This is because there are a lot less switchins to Moongeist Beam users than there are to Sunsteel Strike users. Moongeist Beam is incredibly overlooked. Firstly, this metagame is dominated by so many Pokemon who don't take a Moongeist Beam very well, from Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Mewtwo Y, Doublade, Mega Steelix, Solgaleo, Deoxys-Attack, Mega Slowbro, Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, Lunala, etc, and most Pokemon who resist Moongeist Beam are weak to its most common coverage, Fighting, being Chansey, Blissey, Mega Gyarados, Arceus, Slaking, and almost any other Normal-type or Dark-type. Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword covers up such a large blanket of this metagame that I firmly believe Mega Audino is the sole reason Moongeist Beam isn't the best Mold Breaker move. It's literally perfect coverage that an even smaller amount of Pokemon can take well than the other two Mold Breaker moves. In addition, Fairy-type coverage is the second most common coverage for Moongeist in the game, which threatens Zygarde-Complete and neutral fight coverage Dark-types like Yveltal. Mega Audino is the most dependable Pokemon in the game to take special attacks, which allows it to pair significantly well with the biggest physical tanks in the game who often don't take special attackers as well.
A Rank
This is gonna be weirder because honestly there aren't many Wonder Guards who are truly remarkable in this metagame. Everything in the A subrank is what I see as "okay, at least consistent at their jobs".
A+
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Hot take when it comes to sweeping, Moongeist Beam is a much better option than Sunsteel Strike, for reasons aforementioned by the Mega Slowbro and Mega Gyarados section. Sunsteel Strike should mainly be used for breaking, especially since it's more difficult to set up and sweep physically with Mega Steelix, Doublade, and Zygarde-Complete flying around, even running Will-O-Wisp sometimes. With that being said, Necrozma Dawn Wings is actually incredible based on my usage of it on ladder. It creates so much synergy with Mega Audino and can easily shred through opponents after being able to set up. It is however, not able to switch into mold breaker moves as well and cannot switch into Moongeist Beam. It also has a nasty Pursuit weakness that may be costly if the Dawn Wings lacks utility moves or HP. Aside from that, Wonder Guard Dawn Wings hits really hard, outspeeds Deoxys-Speed at x2, and is able to sweep more consistently than most other Pokemon in the game.
A
Arceus
Slaking
I haven't used Arceus but seeing it on ladder has proven it can be pretty consistent. It normally runs a lot of utility options and can even survive a Secret Sword from weaker special attackers, posing as a dangerous threat against them out of nowhere. It takes Moongeist Beam and is one of the reasons why Secret Sword is the best special coverage. It's also bulky and fast enough to be a good setup passer. As far as how much this justifies being A? Honestly A rank Wonder Guards are ones who are fine. It's not a high bar. Slaking is similar to Arceus except bulkier but not as fast.
Ferrothorn / Scizor-Mega
Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor are good Steel-types that can take any hit that's not fire, or in Ferrothorn's case, Close Combat. Ferrothorn innately blocks Spore with Grass-types while Mega Scizor has more sweeper potential, though to be honest sweepers who mostly depend on Sunsteel Strike are not great. Mega Scizor can alternatively carry utility like Will-O-Wisp to annoy physical attackers, Stealth Rock to set up, Defog to clear hazards, and use STAB U-Turn to pivot, even though this can also come at the liability of losing to an Innards Out Chansey. They have positives but their negatives make them more inconsistent than above ranks, in that random Fire-type coverage is crazy common among physical and special attackers and these two get nuked by it almost every time.
A-
Kartana
Wonder Guard Kartana's decent but not great. On paper it looks as if it could be since it has the potential to set up and sweep with Sunsteel Strike. In reality you get hardwalled in so many circumstances by a Mega Slowbro, Mega Steelix, Zygarde-Complete, or Doublade, one of the pillars most teams need to survive. In addition Kartana does not take Moongeist Beam well at all and can be overpowered by physical attackers who carry common fighting or fire-type coverage. I tried quite a lot to make Wonder Guard Kartana work, but kept coming to the reality that it's just not very consistent in comparison to every Wonder Guard above. It's better to run Steel-type Wonder Guards for utility rather than an attempt to sweep. Additionally, it has all the same problems as Ferrothorn but worse. I'm putting it up in A- because it's also not horrid and you don't want to run a Wonder Guard much lower rank than this.
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Upon using both Wonder Guard Mega Mewtwo X and Kartana, I find Mega Mewtwo X a little better than Kartana since it's bulkier, faster, and hits harder overall, being able to much more reliably use its coverage and STAB. Mega Mewtwo X is decent for breaking and sweeping, but cannot switch into very powerful attackers from either side. It tends to run Focus Sash. Mega Mewtwo Y is a similar case in this aspect, but is rather ran as a lead or hazard setter of some sort and is about equally as decent.
Meloetta
Oranguru
Mega Audino outclasses these two by a couple of miles thanks to their more crucial dark-type and bug-type weaknesses in the game + not being able to take other moldy moves well regardless, but these two still have potential to be able to sweep from the special attacking side. Getting pursuit trapped or U-Turned by many Wonder Guards kinda sucks and with Dark-type Wonder Guards up there with Dark-type STAB these two can only go so far. Mega Slowbro is also a psychic-type, but it's a lot higher for being able to tank hits mold breaker hits a lot more and even being able to punish them with Scald.
Muk-Alola
Alolan Muk's at A- for being able to potentially threaten Moongeist Beam users with resistance + pursuit but that's about it. I cannot emphasize how much Ground weakness sucks especially when No Guard's considerably better here. Being weak to Fissure is an enormous liability that makes Alolan Muk very difficult to run consistently, as of course there are hardly any other proper switchins to OHKO moves. You can try to pair it up with 2 other Wonder Guards however, or just try to be lucky. Getting hit by Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam also particularly sucks for Alolan Muk because if it even tries to run Air Balloon it can be popped so easily. It also does not take Sunsteel Strike very well but that's besides the point.
Sableye-Mega
This might have been generous but its niche of blocking Photon Geyser does it little factor as it can just get nuked by Sunsteel Strike from many of those same Pokemon and fairy-type coverage is very abundant here. It is a decent wall however and takes most attacks just fine. It can also escape Shadow Tag and be annoying with Curse. This may be a pain for other Wonder Guards to fight off against. It's also not too bad against Special Attackers lacking fairy coverage and a STAB Spectral Thief could do a lot to harm them.
That's about all the Wonder Guards I'm giving heavy details for as now but to breeze through a few other Pokemon, Magearna should stay B+ because it can be a particularly threatening sweeper occasionally. Is it very consistent? No, but neither is anything within its rank or below.
Chansey and Blissey suck as Wonder Guards. They can't take a physical hit. Special attackers will carry Secret Sword much of the time. Wishpassing is not great as most Pokemon just get nuked if they get hit and Darkium Z Parting Shot can outclass their usage. Use any Normal-type Wonder Guard in A- or above above Chansey/Blissey, and have Chansey/Blissey be Imposter or Innards Out instead. Lastly Lunala should be UR because Dawn Wings outclasses it in every way that matters and only having base 137 SpA makes it considerably weak.
S Rank
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Mega Mewtwo X is the definitive breaker of the game, boasting an absurd 194 base attack which lets it have 1052 raw attack at most with Huge Power. While there are plenty of threatening nukes this game has in store to prepare for, this is the ultimate one, as it's not only fast and the most powerful, but not a complete glass cannon. The biggest defensive Pokemon of the game can sometimes just drop if Mega Mewtwo X has the right coverage and it's definitely a stand-out Pokemon compared to everything below S. It's not higher however, because the Pokemon in S+ rank are definitively better and there are plenty of Pokemon like Solgaleo, Primal Groudon, Deoxys-Attack, Dusk Mane, Kartana, Mega Banette, etc who can do Mega Mewtwo X's job decently well each while having their own niches about Mega Mewtwo X.
Zygarde-Complete
Everything aerobee stated here applies and this Pokemon is deserving to be paired alongside Mega Mewtwo X.
S-
Steelix-Mega /
Doublade
Mega Steelix is a godsend and it's a shame how little usage it got on 1760+ glicko. In order for most teams to be consistent in this metagame, they will need an overwhelming defensive backbone. There are 4 Pokemon serving as the pillars to this defensive backbone. First is Zygarde-Complete who is the most consistent for being able to tank a mix of both physical moves and special moves best. Alternatively, you can run Mega Steelix, who is better at tanking physical moves than Zygarde-Complete due to its type combination, resisting Photon Geyser, Sunsteel Strike, and common Zygarde-Complete weaknesses such as Fairy-type and Dragon-type moves, alongside being neutral against Ice. Doublade is generally a little worse than Mega Steelix but is this high for its ability to resist Ice and ignore Shadow Tag while having very similar physical bulk and special weaknesses as Mega Steelix. It performs close enough to Mega Steelix overall to replace it and is one of the four pillars you can run if you want most teams to be consistent. The last is Wonder Guard Mega Slowbro, who is the strongest Wonder Guard tank to Sunsteel Strike and Photon Geyser, but can be overwhelmed more easily than the other 3. The 4 pillars are what I consider Pokemon of whom at least one of is absolutely needed for the majority of teams in the metagame to have any form of consistency, unless that team has a dependable Innards Out user. To re-iterate, the vast majority of teams either need a Mega Steelix, a Doublade, a Mega Slowbro, or a Zygarde-Complete in order to last long, and I haven't been able to run a single consistent team without at least one of these four. For this reason, they all deserve to be S- at minimum. Mega Steelix is even the reason why I decided S+ should exist. There needed to be an S- even if it was just for it. I tried thinking about Doublade being A+ but since it's very still a strong alternative and absolutely more important as one than anything in A+, I decided to bring it up to S- as well. Zygarde-Complete is higher and flat S due to its consistency over handling both physical and special attacks unlike the rest, however, the rest can have niches over Zygarde-Complete by resisting Sunsteel Strike and Photon Geyser, while even having their own different set of weaknesses in case teams prepare for Zygarde-Complete.
Gengar-Mega
As I brought up with Dawn Wings, Moongeist Beam is an incredibly overlooked mold breaker move and very top notch. Mega Gengar is the single most defining user of this Mold Breaker move in the metagame, the single best special attacker, and is even the best Magic Guard user. This is great because Magic Guard avoids the incredibly oppressive Innards Out ability and allows Mega Gengar to sweep easily when given a great opportunity. Honestly Mega Gengar in general is the very best set up sweeper in the metagame for its ability to run over many of the top metagame threats after it sets up once. Think about it. Who's up there? Chansey, Blissey, Ash Greninja, and Mega Gyarados are weak to Secret Sword. Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Mewtwo Y, Deoxys-Speed, Deoxys-Attack, Solgaleo, Mega Slowbro, Dawn Wings are weak to Moongeist Beam. Kartana still gets OHKOed by Moongeist Beam. Mega Steelix dies to Moongeist Beam at x2, Moongeist Beam + Secret Sword breaks past almost every viable Wonder Guard, and the ones it doesn't can make a fantastic core with Mega Gengar to imposterproof it. If Zygarde-Complete threatens it the Pokemon can launch out Moonblast or Light of Ruin as well. It's a very splashable Pokemon for many balance and HO teams alike past a point any A+ Pokemon or lower can reasonably compare to. Mega Gengar is Deoxys-Attack on steroids as a sweeper, but doesn't totally outclass since Deoxys-Attack is not only better at breaking but can attack physically. Mega Gengar is so good for cleaning. When Mega Gengar isn't running Magic Guard, it can also run various other abilities like Prankster, Wonder Guard, No Guard, Parental Bond, or even the same old Mold Breaker Spooky Plate Judgment in order to strike. Heck it's even a top contender for Comatose Whirlwind as its ghost type makes it immune to Extreme Speed and its SpA allows it to hit Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom very hard at +0. I don't think I can exaggerate when I say this Pokemon defines a strong aspect of the metagame and is very well deserving to be up in S-. It's not incredibly crazy like Mega Mewtwo X and its immediate breaking potential but man if you're not running Dawn Wings you can be having a field day with Mega Gengar. Putting Mega Gengar this far up also creates an accurate sign for just how dangerous Moongeist Beam can really be. Like I said Mega Audino is the sole reason this isn't the best Mold Breaker move, but Mega Gengar teams can use that to their advantage to be imposterproofed.
A Rank
A+ Rank
Deoxys-Attack /
Groudon-Primal
Deoxys-Attack and Primal Groudon are similar in that they work extremely well in spam teams and cannot be counteracted very easily while in them. They both can carry very powerful moves from both the physical and special side of things and create guesswork for their opponents to play if they want to survive in the game. Outside of spam, Deoxys-Attack is a notable Magic Guard sweeper and CFZ spammer, for having explosive dual 180 offenses and incredible 150 base speed, while the gap between its offenses and ridiculously poor defenses make even Imposter Chansey cry. Primal Groudon is bulkier and harder to take down, giving it more opportunities to set up, but isn't as much of a threat as Deoxys-Attack outside spam. Nevertheless they both deserve to be near the peak as Pokemon in this metagame and I'm putting A+ and below in alphabetical order.
Greninja-Ash
Ash Greninja is incredible. When it comes to dealing with spam it's second to best behind Chansey and Blissey. It can Water Shuriken both Primal Groudon and Deoxys-Attack away with either Magic Guard Shell Smash or just straight up Water Bubble, while having enough attack, special attack, and speed to deal with a large range of Pokemon on its own. It can pick to fight Dusk Mane, it tends to run Sunsteel Strike for Mega Audino, it can Close Combat against Mega Gyarados, or run Moongeist Beam, Photon Geyser, Fighting coverage, you name it. Maybe a surprise Dragon Ascent for Mega Mewtwo X? I almost lost to a Mold Breaker Water Spout Ash Greninja. It's also a great No Guard! Ash Greninja is probably the single most flexible Pokemon in the metagame, although it's not super dominant in one particular category. I spammed this Pokemon so much before topping ladder from 1600s and it just could not disappoint. Another user even topped the ladder running 3 Ash Greninja. One very notable thing about this Pokemon is the ability to switch into any of the 3 Mold Breaker moves while being able to run a Focus Sash to give itself a set up turn if it doesn't get hit. It's also faster than the majority of Pokemon, including top threats like Mega Gengar and Mega Mewtwo X, making it a little trickier to play around.
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Like Ash Greninja Mega Mewtwo Y is also incredibly flexible, serving great as a No Guard, Innards Out, Psychic Surge, Mold Breaker, or Protean user even. Its flexibility is certainly comparable, but what Mega Mewtwo Y also has is great speed and great power. 140 is a higher base speed than almost every Pokemon in the metagame and base 194 SpA means it's hitting the hardest special attacking moldy moves in the game. Photon Geyser isn't necessarily as great for Special Attackers as Moongeist Beam but it can run CFZs like Light That Burns The Sky, Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom, or even 10 Million Volt Thunderbolt out of nowhere. It's hard to predict and is usually doing something very well in a game. Even if it does nothing you can just run Innards Out and have it be a viable sack. It's definitive in a great sense, but not S- level.
A Rank
Regigigas
Slaking
I haven't used either of these two but have seen them well enough to know they deserve to stay as high as A rank. They are incredibly threatening sometimes as they're bulky enough to not get taken down in just one hit from most Pokemon, they can set up, and they can revenge kill under the right circumstance. They can also set up and run Sunsteel Strike or Crystal-Free Z-Moves to do major damage. Overall I think they're a step above Mega Diancie, who isn't as bulky and cannot run as many different abilities with its STABs / moves.
Solgaleo
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Solgaleo and Dusk Mane are both powerful forces who sometimes serve similar roles. They can both run Huge Power STAB Sunsteel Strike or Magic Bounce set up to sweep with Sunsteel Strike or Photon Geyser with coverage. They're both better than Kartana because they can take hits while trying to sweep or break, and they both are harder to revenge kill. Solgaleo can also be a pretty good Prankster or Fur Coat user especially for stall, but not on the level of what's at S-. These two are very good but slightly less of a concern than your average A+ rank Pokemon imo.
Rayquaza-Mega
Mega Rayquaza's not as good as the A+ rank Pokemon especially since its main set is Choice Scarf/Band/Specs Shadow Tag CFZ spamming. This gives Mega Ray a great opportunity cost as once it hits that one CFZ it's stuck to struggle. Not to mention Pokemon like Zygarde-Complete can still survive its attacks at times and I've ran a Misty Terrain Zygarde-C which completely dunked on this Pokemon. With that being said it's still a consistent nuke when applicable and can definitely put a major dent towards teams if left unprepared.
A- Rank
Deoxys-Speed
Lopunny-Mega
These are both similarly good No Guard users in a generation where No Guard has gotten better. Deoxys-Speed has speed while Mega Lopunny is able to dance around all Deoxys-Speed counterplay with its Fighting-type to break ice, resist bug, and resist pursuit, then its Normal-type to block Ghost-type moves.
Diancie-Mega
Mega Diancie isn't great since it needs a lot of support in order to do decent damage with Magic Guard or Pixilate and it can't run anything else without being overshadowed by Regigigas/Slaking, and anything that breaks while having priority. It's still pretty good though since a lot of upper tier Pokemon are weak to fairy.
Gyarados-Mega
Slowbro-Mega
These two can be annoying Prankster users, Mega Gyarados can also be a great Magic Guard Pursuit user, but their roles are mostly outdone by the Pokemon in S/S- rank in both the regular and Wonder Guard Viability rankings.
Kartana
Kartana hits very hard but holds the liabilities of being slow, frail, and mostly outdone by everything above A-. It can certainly sweep with Sunsteel much better than Wonder Guard Kartana, but it's a lot easier to revenge kill.
Lunala
Innards Out Lunala is pretty good since it can set up without having to risk too much, as if the opponent takes down Lunala without caution, they will be punished pretty harshly. At this point A- is kinda the cross for what can be considered meta in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons and Lunala accurately fits in.
Unfortunately I don't know as much about most Pokemon below A- on this VR and a lot of them aren't going to be all that consistent anyway, but I'll brush through some.
Mega Banette should go from UR to B. It's the strongest shadow sneaker in the game, hits hard enough to 2HKO Zygarde and Doublade while being able to revenge deoxys formes, mega mewtwos, solgaleo, dusk mane, mega gengar. It can also run coverage to surprise any potential switchins with ease. It was good enough to carry me fairly well into the top of ladder from 1600s and these niches should definitely be enough to rank it. B is also not a high bar and Mega Banette is better than most Pokemon in that rank.
Ultra Necrozma should drop to B because it not only misses out on underspeeding MMX and Mega Gengar but using it comes with a significant cost of immediate power when compared to Mega Mewtwo X, and it lacks the defensive type or stats to compare to Dusk Mane/Solgaleo. Ultra Necrozma's main niche is being able to whip out Ultranecrozium Light That Burns The Sky for potential walls but when it's not doing that it's just straight up outclassed by many things higher. Special attacker? Run Mega Gengar. Mixed attacker? Mega Mewtwos are better. Physical attacker? Every one of those above B does the job better.
Mega Sceptile should be B because its speed + spa + typing makes it good for potential sweeping and imposterproofing. It doesn't outright suck like C ranks would so B is probably suitable.
Those are the only Pokemon I moved to B.
This is all I have to say about the viability rankings and I'm moving on to the final part of this post, which is my overall thoughts on Gen 7 Pure Hackmons itself.
I enjoyed Gen 7 Pure Hackmons, but my thoughts on this metagame have rather been conflicting throughout the month. I'll answer some questions that may be frequently asked regarding the metagame.
Compared to Gen 6, is it as competitive? To put it bluntly, no, and it's not even close. In fact it's even less competitive than the Generation 8 Pokemon HOME pre-overflow Pure Hackmons metagame and I firmly believe it's less competitive than both Gens 4 and 5 Pure Hackmons could get. There are two major causes of this.
Crystal-Free Z-Moves: The game is significantly more volatile than your average Pure Hackmons metagame when every Pokemon can have access to multiple 180+ base power attack moves while running any ability and item alongside them to maximize their damage output. Walls for Crystal-Free Z-Moves are extremely limited to where you either have to run an Innards Out, Zygarde-Complete, Doublade, Mega Steelix, or Mega Slowbro, or else your team is not making it very far in terms of consistency. Even when you run one of those there's a chance they'll still get one-shotted by some random coverage move or a Crystal-Free Z-move. A Choice Band Huge Power Primal Groudon can still OHKO Zygarde-Complete with Searing Sunraze Smash let alone Deoxys-Attack or Mega Mewtwo X for example while running Fire/Fighting coverage for Steel-type walls. Many of the most powerful Pokemon in the game have this button they can tap once and get rid of any wall they want, allowing them to win a game you cannot do much about. Playing around Crystal-Free Z-Moves is not easy at all and this makes dealing with spam teams significantly more punishing guesswork than anything other generations had. You have to guess which 180, 195, 200, even 210 BP move your opponent is using next, and if you fail, you lost an essential Pokemon. Mold Breaker Crystal-Free Z-Moves are the most problematic, however all special Crystal-Free Z-Moves in general are an issue and without the 3 Mold Breaker ones people would just set up with the Mold Breaker ability to accomplish the same thing.
Innards Out: Innards Out is extremely unhealthy in every regard and nobody is going to convince me otherwise. This is a get out of jail free card for players placed in a great matchup against their opponent or those who simply let their opponent make a rewarding play by mistake. It is the most oppressive ability in the history of Hackmons by far and it forces many teams to walk on eggshells around it in order to survive. If you're stuck in a bad matchup and are against Innards Out, the Innards Out Pokemon makes your chances of winning go from low to effectively 0, as unless you stuff a dedicated hardcounter in every team, which this metagame has too much going on for in order to accomplish, great players with Innards Out have complete control of the game and you can't do a single thing about it without your (possibly only) wincon in a bad situation dropping entirely. Gen 7 is a lot more match-up heavy than Gen 6 because of Mold Breaker moves and CFZs but Innards Out exacerbates the issue sevenfold by making games outright unwinnable under the right circumstances. The best you can do is run a Magic Guard Pursuit on every single team out there, and it better be Ghost-type as Innards Out users can just Final Gambit your Pokemon and a second one could potentially come out. This ability does not reward proper gameplay. It in fact dissuades it much of the time and becomes a very frustrating presence in the metagame. It's even worse when Innards Out is paired with a Shadow Tag user as Innards Out players have more control over which member of your team drops. Magic Guard sweepers can work around Innards Out, but only after they've set up properly. Otherwise any decent player with the ability is going to immediately switch out when they discover your Pokemon has Magic Guard. The worst part about this is that I don't even think its potential was well-tapped. You could realistically go crazy with this ability and run it on random Pokemon out of nowhere. They don't even have to have Mega Mewtwo X's HP. Even Mega Gyarados could fall to some unpredictable Innards and your game could end because of it. Strategically utilizing hazards to chip and do the trick could potentially become an effective strategy as well, and Chansey can lower their level to outmatch even the lowest attack great Wonder Guards while still having higher HP than Giratina. Magic Guard Pursuit only really works effectively against Chansey/Blissey but if you're running like an Entei, Mega Rayquaza, Primal Kyogre, or Mega Mewtwo X itself it won't be as effective.
Mold Breaker moves in themselves are also a factor especially since they allow No Guard users to dominate a lot more without a great alternative around them but they're so much less of a factor that they're not worth comparing to Crystal-Free Z-Moves and Innards Out.
This metagame also has so many overcentralized concepts that cannot all be prepared for in one team but I wrote this paragraph below for a Youtube comment back in March and to my surprise it holds up incredibly well: "The thing about Generation 7 is that while it has extreme strats that can turn games from 0 to 180 in a second, like CFZ spam, Comatose Whirlwind, and Innards Out, Gen 7 gives Pokémon *anything* in their arsenal make answering them possible. Gen 7 has so much of everything that there is a way around everything here, but too few Pokémon slots and moveslots to fit every answer into one team imo. You often have to overcompress your Pokémon to attempt fulfilling too many roles at once or just leave out answers to a major strategy and risk losing sometimes. What I believe is that Generation 7 leaves room for a lot of great battles to be played, even ones that could be better than Gen 6 battles ocassionally, but finding high quality battles for Gen 7 would not be as consistent as finding them in Generation 6 Pure Hackmons, imo."
Is Gen 7 Pure Hackmons playable competitively at all?
To a decent extent I guess? It's not great but it's also not awful! Definitely not awful. As aforementioned it absolutely has flaws but Pokemon can only go so far, this is Pure Hackmons, and there's definitely non-PH teambuilder metagames less competitive than this. While it's not Gen 6 it's nowhere near as bad as Gen 8 post-overflow or Gen 9 Pure Hackmons and it's still very far from being a mindless game without consistent strategy. This game can be played competitively, but is noticeably more heavily determined by match up here than any other generation of Pure Hackmons.
Compared to Gen 6 Pure Hackmons, is it more fun?
Gen 7 Pure Hackmons is very fun most of the time, honestly even more fun than Gen 6 Pure Hackmons at its best times, but at its worst I'll admit its had me rage quit back to Gen 6 and stop playing the metagame a couple of times. Innards Out is just not fun to deal with and this alongside Crystal-Free Z-Moves, and spam teams using them not only make the game a lot more restricted than Gen 6, but make the metagame difficult to bear consistently if you're taking it too seriously. It's the main reason I didn't ladder on PHTL further than I did. I've only made it that far off dodging spam teams and bad match ups, which otherwise could've required multiple teams when I only wanted to use one for that account. In other words it's somewhat inconsistent in comparison to Gen 6, but I've always kept returning due to the great battles I've had and the fact this ladder only had one month and I did not want to regret missing out .
Overall?
It's strange and I've been thinking a ton about how I genuinely feel about this metagame. Part of me wishes this was Generation 6 for the reasons above, while the other finds it fitting that Gen 7 Pure Hackmons is as chaotic as it is. It truly feels like everything is being brought out at their maximum potential and going all out. It in a way feels like the ultimate version of Hackmons, the final boss. Pure Hackmons has always been thought of to be the most chaotic metagame ever and Gen 7 Pure Hackmons is the perfect representation of that. It has another trait over any other generation of Pure Hackmons, which is that everyone is here. Gen 7 was the last full National Dex generation, and you get to run Pokemon like Dawn Wings, Zygarde-Complete, Ash Greninja, and Ultra Necrozma. Personally? It's so cool that all my favorite Pokemon actually do something in Gen 7 Pure Hackmons, and being able to use them in battle is part of what makes the metagame worth it for me. I also really love how the metagame is still playable despite everything being at their upmost extreme here, and I love how it's replicable enough on cartridge for someone to just go out and play Hackmons against their friends on an Ultra Sun or Ultra Moon cartridge if they like. This is a magical feeling that, while rare, is not something you can get in let's say Gen 9 at all. In the end, I've accepted Gen 7 Pure Hackmons for what it is and will keep trying to play and make contributions to this metagame.
Hope y'all have a good read and a wonderful day/night.
Oh yeah edit: Thanos World should be a sample team imo a great team that's fun, easy to use, and accurately showcases how the metagame is like to players. It can do a lot to teach newer players what switchins work, when, and how to be able to pull off an average team effectively.
A --> A+
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S --> S-
S- --> A+/A
A- --> A/A+
A+ --> A
A- --> A
UR --> A-
A+ --> A-
A --> A-
A+ --> A-/B+
C --> B+
UR --> B+
A --> B
B+ --> B-
B+ --> C/UR OR A-/B+
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@ 
@ 
. Zygarde-Complete and Mega Mewtwo X are one in the same. Both monstrous behemoths on opposite ends who are only restricted by the slots they have.
Absol-Mega: Can run weird Scarf Huge Power sets even if you'd just go for priority Sucker Punch the vast majority of the time.
Aerodactyl-Mega: Honestly not as bad as people say, okay Mold Breaker and maybe somehow justifiable Shadow Tag sets.
Banette-Mega: Mold Breaker Belly Drum and Huge Power Shadow Sneak sets.
Chesnaught: Decent Primal Groudon and Gyarados (both formes) switchin, can run Magic Bounce if you're willing to die to V-create. U-turn neutrality is cool too.
Cresselia: Prankster, Magic Bounce, and Poison Heal sets are actually okay/annoying enough in practice, even if you have a really hard time justifying using it over Giratina/Arceus/Mega Gyarados/even Mega Slowbro or whatever for one specific purpose.
Deoxys-Speed: Mold Breaker hazard leads are garbage but Deoxys-S is clearly the best at said role so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Ferrothorn: Spore-immune soft Xerneas/Dialga/Mega Diancie check with alright synergy with Giratina but questionable bulk.
Latias-Mega: Better than everything here in a vacuum and I don't know where this goes if not ranked where Mega Latios is.
Kyurem-White: Cool mixed Shell Smash user that can make use of Techno Blast for Plate Imposter if needed, can also run Choice Specs Mold Breaker if needed.
Probopass: Hardcounters Oblivion Wing Mega Rayquaza and does nothing else.
Salamence @ Salamencite: The hidden C- Pokemon that traps slower Wonder Guards/Mega Gyarados/whatever with Encore and Megas into an -ate revenge killer.
Slowbro-Mega: Checks physical foes in particular slightly harder than Giratina, also isn't forced out by Pursuit -ates. Competing with the clear #1 in the metagame kinda sucks though.
Steelix-Mega: Takes Pursuits better than Registeel does, comes in on most -ate users, checks Zekrom, blocks random Volt Switches from Choiced Mold Breakers, doesn't do much else.
Swampert-Mega: Decent Choice Band Mold Breaker user that can pack Water Shuriken for Primal Groudon. Shell Smash sets can work occasionally too but are noticeably weaker than Primal Groudon. Not much else works on this mon.
Altaria-Mega: Painfully mediocre Magic Bounce user. Maybe can do Mold Breaker sweeper things once in a blue moon? Not worth it >99% of the time.
Arceus-Ghost: Multitype Spooky Plate Arceus on spam teams for mons like MMX that love to click Fighting STAB into you. Useless outside of Arceus spam specifically, though, and you don't even necessarily run it on spam.
Bastiodon: Probopass clone but you don't hit as hard if you opt for Ice Beam or some crap and you have slightly lower special bulk.
Lopunny-Mega: STAG Explosion is honestly probably its best set and that's saying something. Band Mold Breaker is a maybe and Huge Power seems beyond awful.
Pikachu: Hits harder than Imposter Chansey after Transforming into an opposing sweeper, but is WAY frailer (dies to most priority) and relies on ties if no paralysis. 
Shedinja: You wall ALL Huge Power users (besides lucky Sacred Fire spammers I guess), but you also die to any residual chip and things like Mold Breaker Pursuit exist.
Shuckle: Slowest pivot in the game but you could also be using a Magic Bounce user with actual defensive utility/bulk.
Tangrowth: Primal Groudon check that's slightly bulkier than Chesnaught physically raw stats wise. Has a worse defensive typing into almost every other physical threat, though.
C --> B. Easier to justify using than like half of B rank actually, No Guard Sing is easily one of the most obnoxious game elements to play or build around and Magic Bounce Articuno takes care of it in the vast majority of scenarios. Its bulk isn't even bad either, since it takes around 80 from +2 Modest Gengar's Moongeist Beam (and also eat boosted MMY's Photon Geyser unless it's something uncommon like Life Orb), meaning it functions as a Magic Bounce user against passive hazard setters/Parting Shot users. 4x Stealth Rock weakness hurts, but you can deny Stealth Rock against most potential setters. Maybe not Steel-types though. Which brings me to...
UR --> C. Sheer Cold-immune Magic Bouncer that doesn't immediately fold to Sunsteel Strike. While its physical bulk isn't amazing (takes ~80 from +2 Kartana's Sunsteel Strike, and about the same from Huge Power MMX's Photon Geyser), it's just enough for it to come into things without Stealth Rock on the field. Despite its abysmal special bulk and Mega Slowbro existing, No Guard (Sheer Cold) users being busted makes Cloyster just good enough to be C rank imo.
UR --> C. 
B --> B+. I don't rate this as highly as most other players (due to Spectral Thief/Pursuit weaknesses and reliance on Spectral Thief/Photon Geyser to hit stuff) but it's better than the niche mons in B.
vs cscl
vs EC2Darky
Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.