Resource Series 11 Viability Rankings

yuki

Huh? Me? Not this time...
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These are the official Viability Rankings for VGC Series 11. In this thread, we as a community will be ranking each and every usable pokemon into different tiers based on how viable we believe them to be. We encourage you to post your thoughts and opinions on on the various usable Pokemon in VGC and what tier you think they should belong in. Posts in this thread will be taken into consideration when deciding changes to the VR.

The general idea of this is to rank every usable Pokemon in VGC into different rankings that will go in descending order. Since we are evaluating the entirety of the metagame, we will not be splitting Pokemon based on their roles within teams - supportive and offensive Pokemon will be ranked based on their impact that they have on the meta and the teams they will be brought for. For example, a Pokemon like Incineroar will be ranked highly for its supportive presence and Kartana for its offensive presence. While these examples are definitely present in the current Viability Rankings, as the metagame progresses and evolves so do Pokemon's utility and viability, so the Council will approach this with an open mind as we move forward.

Finally, there will be a Council of experienced players who will discuss and vote on the ranking of each Pokemon. As the Series tend to be fairly short, we will be attempting to keep this up-to-date based on what's going on in the tournament scene and adapting our list based on both tournament results and ladder success as the metagame evolves. Keep in mind, your posts and insights are still very valuable to us and will be a factor in any changes that we make. This thread would be nothing without the community and all of your input, so if you feel you have a good grasp on the metagame and fully understand the forum rules, then don't be hesitant to post.

Your VR Council:
Raineko
zeefable
Namuko Pro
z0mOG
Human
Borghi

VGC Series 11 Viability Rankings:

Restricted:

S-Tier:

There's nothing here right now!

A-Tier:
A+:

:Zacian-Crowned: Zacian-C

A:
:Groudon: Groudon
:Kyogre: Kyogre

A-:
:Calyrex-Shadow: Calyrex-S

B-Tier:
B+:

:Calyrex-Ice: Calyrex-I

B:
There's nothing here right now!

B-:
:Kyurem-White: Kyurem-W
:Palkia: Palkia

C-Tier:
C+:

:Yveltal: Yveltal

C:
:Dialga: Dialga
:Necrozma-Dusk-Mane: Necrozma-DM

C-:
:Ho-Oh: Ho-Oh
:Solgaleo: Solgaleo

D-Tier:
:Rayquaza: Rayquaza
:Reshiram: Reshiram
:Xerneas: Xerneas
:Zekrom: Zekrom
:Zygarde: Zygarde

-------------------------------------------------

Non-Restricted:

S-Tier:

:Incineroar: Incineroar
:Venusaur-Gmax: Venusaur

A-Tier:
A+:

:Grimmsnarl: Grimmsnarl
:Landorus-Therian: Landorus-T
:Regieleki: Regieleki

A:
:Amoonguss: Amoonguss
:Charizard-Gmax: Charizard
:Coalossal-Gmax: Coalossal
:Dragapult: Dragapult
:Porygon2: Porygon2
:Thundurus: Thundurus

A-:
:Indeedee-F: Indeedee-F
:Torkoal: Torkoal
:Tornadus: Tornadus
:Urshifu-Rapid-Strike-Gmax: Urshifu-R
:Urshifu-Gmax: Urshifu-S
:Whimsicott: Whimsicott

B-Tier:
B+:

:Kartana: Kartana
:Rillaboom-Gmax: Rillaboom

B:
:Ferrothorn: Ferrothorn
:Gothitelle: Gothitelle
:Metagross: Metagross
:Mimikyu: Mimikyu
:Moltres-Galar: Moltres-G
:Umbreon: Umbreon

B-:
:Blastoise-Gmax: Blastoise
:Entei: Entei
:Tapu Fini: Tapu Fini
:Zapdos: Zapdos

C-Tier:
C+:

:Cinderace-Gmax: Cinderace
:Clefairy: Clefairy
:Dusclops: Dusclops
:Lapras-Gmax: Lapras
:Mamoswine: Mamoswine
:Mienshao: Mienshao
:Raichu: Raichu
:Rotom-Heat: Rotom-H
:Rotom-Wash: Rotom-W
:Spectrier: Spectrier
:Togekiss: Togekiss

C:
:Glastrier: Glastrier
:Kingdra: Kingdra
:Nihilego: Nihilego
:Politoed: Politoed

C-:
:Comfey: Comfey
:Gastrodon: Gastrodon
:Regigigas: Regigigas
:Registeel: Registeel
:Sableye: Sableye
:Weezing: Weezing

D-Tier:
:Dracovish: Dracovish
:Indeedee: Indeedee-M
:Tyranitar: Tyranitar
 
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5Dots

Chairs
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Wait... Where's regigigas? Isn’t it a threat with weezing paired up with it?
Hello, welcome to Smogon! Regigigas sadly isn’t viable in this meta. Although it has an assortment of Max Moves to choose from once Dynamaxed and great overall stats, it is too reliant on a passive Pokemon (that is also unranked) to pose as an offensive threat. It is well-known that once Weezing is KOed or switches out, Regigigas will lose its offensive presence and can be dead weight against powerful threats like Venusaur, Landorus-T and Charizard. While the player can try to use protect with weezing to circumvent its vulnerability to getting targeted, it is still too much of a matchup fish to try to circumvent its passivity and low offensive presence. This is why there are better Pokemon to dynamax that are not as excessively reliant on support, such as the aforementioned Venusaur and Charizard.

Hope this answers your question.
 
I disagree, Regigigas has definitely proven to be part of the metagame before with one extremely notable placement, here 4th place at players cup a bit surprising to not see it ranked actually, I think they should be around C+ or B-.
Regigias.png


The combination of Regigigas and Weezing is incredibly oppressive because of how absurdly powerful Regigigas is without slow start, though it is predictable. You will need likely need a certain lead/gameplan to deal with Regigigas and then Regigigas's powerful teammates such as Calyrex-S and Thundurus could potentially take advantage of other leads. And there are times you may know the gigas weezing lead is coming and may still not be able to deal with it, simply because its so oppressive and likely needs a certain sequence to go right in order to deal with it. Also not that easy to KO Weezing when it can use Protect and sheer pressure of Regigigas's absurd offensive presence is under you.

While I'm at it why not some other nominations.

:Umbreon: B to B+ This thing is stupidly bulky and hard to kill on sun teams with Grimmsnarl and Groudon. I think a lot of reason to use Groudon sun right now comes in the strength of Umbreon and its great synergy with the sun Pokemon. Umbreon being able to wall an absurd amount of the metagame and the sun mons zard and Groudon checking Zacian-C.

:Blastoise: B- to B
One of the very best Pokemon in the metagame is Landorus-T, one of the best offensive none restricted answers to Landorus-T is Blastoise. Blastoise is seriously very potent alongside Zacian-C having phenomenal synergy with it, Blastoise being able to check Fire-types and Landorus-T. yea its weak to Regieleki and Venusaur, however these aren't insurmountable roadblocks and its seriously worth making the effort to use Blastoise.

:Metagross: B to B- This thing has very few relevant good matchups that would make you justify it on a team, the 2 big relevant ones are Zacian-C and Calyrex-Ice. Both Zacian-C and Calyrex-Ice teams can run sun making it very hard to use Metagross on none rain teams, however even on rain teams Metagross takes a valuable team slot usually over that of one of the support Pokemon and can be a liability in comparison to one of the support Pokemon such as Incineroar or Grimmsnar making you weaker to Calyrex-S and simply not being as useful in as many matchups.

:raichu: C+ to C-. I'm not sure why this thing is ranked as high as actually good Pokemon such as Mienshao, Cinderace, and Spectrier. Yes it has Lightning Rod for Regigleki but this niche is very thin, when you consider that yes maybe Regieleki may not do a lot on the field with Raichu there(It can still Electroweb), however the same goes for Raichu who is very passive and doesn't offer a lot.
 
Some noms that I want to share
charizard-gmax.pngCharizard: A to A+
I think that Zard should be A+ Gmax Wildfire's damage in sun is absolutely ridiculous, not to mention he residual damage it does each turn. Zard is also good on non groudon teams because it can just play with opposing sun or use it's good matchup against zacian teams to it's advantage. Zard is an absolute menace in S11 metagame.

tornadus.pngTornadus: A- to A
I think that torn should be raised up because it's on of only two viable speed control Kyogre partners only beside whimsicott but torn's hurricane blows away opposing grass types that threaten a OHKO on Kyogre.
 
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Some noms that I want to share
View attachment 386103Charizard: A to A+
I think that Zard should be A+ Gmax Wildfire's damage in sun is absolutely ridiculous, not to mention he residual damage it does each turn. Zard is also good on non groudon teams because it can just play with opposing sun or use it's good matchup against zacian teams to it's advantage. Zard is an absolute menace in S11 metagame.

View attachment 386104Tornadus: A- to A
I think that torn should be raised up because it's on of only two viable speed control Kyogre partners only beside whimsicott but torn's hurricane blows away opposing grass types that threaten a OHKO on Kyogre.
Charizard is known to have massive power and Tornadus is known to be a threat on Kyogre teams, these nominations are just saying what these Pokemon do, not really giving great rational for them to rise. When arguing for something too rise these are good questions to ask.

Is the Pokemon more consistent than its rank suggests it is?
Does the Pokemon take advantage of trends in the metagame?
Are teams usually prepared for the Pokemon?
Is the Pokemon more easily supported than its rank suggests?
 
Some of my thoughts

:Thundurus: A --A+: Thundurus is an excellent pokemon, offering both supportive and offensive presence. Thundurus has an irritating support option, weakening openents, and a great offensive set with defiant. Defiant users don't usually peak the top#10 mark.
:Kartana: B+ --> B: Kartana is not as great as it was during previous generations, there are more viable options such as Venusaur and Whimsicott, and better steel-types such as Zacian and Metagross. There are better AV users to replace for Kartana and it makes me ponder why it is ranked at B+.

:Dragapult: A --A- or B+: Dragapult does not meet the expectations of the A-tier, it has competition with Calyrex-Shadow who is overall superior to Dragapult and it has numerous weaknesses which holds it back from succeeding.
 
Some of my thoughts

:Thundurus: A --A+: Thundurus is an excellent pokemon, offering both supportive and offensive presence. Thundurus has an irritating support option, weakening openents, and a great offensive set with defiant. Defiant users don't usually peak the top#10 mark.
:Kartana: B+ --> B: Kartana is not as great as it was during previous generations, there are more viable options such as Venusaur and Whimsicott, and better steel-types such as Zacian and Metagross. There are better AV users to replace for Kartana and it makes me ponder why it is ranked at B+.

:Dragapult: A --A- or B+: Dragapult does not meet the expectations of the A-tier, it has competition with Calyrex-Shadow who is overall superior to Dragapult and it has numerous weaknesses which holds it back from succeeding.
I strongly, strongly disagree about Dragapult, I'd say it even deserves A+ with the rise of Dragapult offensive teams. Dragapult has amazing support and damaging options with many sets. Supportive with WoW, Dynamax Offensive, Choice Banded etc. And just because of its Ghost-type it doesn't mean its outclassed by Calyrex-S.

Dragapult, offensively, directly check Kyogre, Groudon and Venusaur while also Zacian-C with proper support. Supportively, it has WoW to shut down the physical threats and Sucker Punch for Caly-S. It also of course enables one of the best sweepers of the metagame (Coalossal)

edit: also the wicked bear has been falling in popularity sooooo...
 
Also quick nom that I forgot to make:
Weezing should be a C tier, maybe C+. This thing paired with some Pokémon is STUPID. No Intimidate, no Chlorophyll no weather. It makes sense to be low because except Neutralizing Gas it does shit but its unique job extends beyond Regigigas teams and I think it should be a bit higher
 
Also quick nom that I forgot to make:
Weezing should be a C tier, maybe C+. This thing paired with some Pokémon is STUPID. No Intimidate, no Chlorophyll no weather. It makes sense to be low because except Neutralizing Gas it does shit but its unique job extends beyond Regigigas teams and I think it should be a bit higher
I kinda disagree. Sure the ability is insane, but it is not like it sets a terrain so it can be killed. Sire defensively its solid, but 65 HP and 70 SpDef is nothing to write home about. If your team is incredibly weak to intimidate AND both weathers in this format, it might be a team issue a single middling bulk Pokemon cant fix.
 

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