Resource SS NU Viability Ranking Thread

[zS]

Just a quick thing, "View attachment 443373 Decidueye just struggles a lot with Grass-type competition." Just trying to clear up which ghost/grass type you meant. Cheers!

hi,
dhelmise is in a weird spot rn in the current metagame cuz decidueye is a better ghost-grass type overall, tsareena is a better grass type spinner and alolan-exeggutor is a better grass type slow breakers, which leaves very little room for dhelmise on teams. but the main thing kinda lies in rotom-mow's unmatched dominance on the current nu metagame, and it being a grass type too makes dhelmise really hard to fit on teams these days. grass type overlapping is something you kinda want to avoid as much as you can given that they aren't that good at covering each other's weaknesses with their dual typings. dhelmise is definitely still a pretty viable option but it is kinda getting overshadowed by the other grass types in the tier as meri said. hope i answered ur question mate!

 

[GXE]

Not really sure how people feel ab sirfetch'd at the moment, but I've been meaning to go to bat for it for a hot second now. There was a big discussion about the merit of it vs machamp before NUPL and my mans was done dirty.

Before diving into why I like it better than machamp, just a quick dive into NUPL usage has Sirfetchd slightly higher than Machamp, not really something you'd expect from an outclassed fighting type two tiers lower. Also a slightly higher win % as well.

So why do I think its better? I remember a post made saying sirfetch'd is awkward to build with. Truthfully, I think it's way easier to build with than machamp. This tier has very clearly defined roles. When you want to build a bulky/balance team you pull up w a ground/a steel/a cleric/speed control/water resists etc. If you want to fit all of these roles you are likely left with one or two ok breakers, and often one speed control mon. On bulkier machamp teams it is incredibly hard to fit additional good speed control, whereas fetch'd is an incredible revenge killing machine because of its tool, first impression, which I believe was drastically undersold last time. I think if you want to make the case for machamp being better on more offensive builds, like a sample it was on early gen I would agree, but that's not the most reflective of the current nu tier anymore.

Talking a bit more about first impression, it is absolutely key to be able to frequently pick off metagame staples from mid/low hp such as blastoise, silvally ground, decidueye, starmie, or genuinely most mons it isn't resisted by. Rotom-mow is also one of the best mons in the tier. Take an incredibly common scenario. You volt switch your rotom mow into your opponents, who do you go? Maybe you can go a breaker like exeggutor, but truthfully there are limited options to take advantage of this scenario. You can't go machamp, or you're taking 40% from volt plus your own flame orb chip. Sirfetch'd completely shifts this burden on your opponent by forcing them to choose whether or not they want to risk the first impression. The best defensive counterplay is often offensive and sirfetch'd does it better than machamp.

This post has mostly been about first impression but I think it's also very easy to glance over the 20 points in speed difference between these two mons (although I don't even dislike 251 jolly sirfetch'd either). So what does this speed difference accomplish? It's genuinely very important into mons such as grimmsnarl, golurk, other machamp*, offensive sylveon, and some other more niche options. With jolly you broaden this list to other mons like exploud as well. It may be a few but in a tier with narrow margins getting the jump on these mons is not as small as you'd think.

Yes, machamp is a better breaker. Being faster into mons such as talonflame, weezing, vileplume, sylveon, and a couple others is really really good (sirfetchd can deal with these, it is just much slower into them), and machamp has its place as one of if not THE best breaker in NU. But it's harder to build with, and it's harder to get in, which is the most important consideration when teambuilding. I believe having them two tiers apart is a disservice to players learning this tier and trying to build new teams. I'd put them in the same tier personally, but either way I'd like to see it revisited somehow.

 

[JoeMama]

hi,
dhelmise is in a weird spot rn in the current metagame cuz decidueye is a better ghost-grass type overall, tsareena is a better grass type spinner and alolan-exeggutor is a better grass type slow breakers, which leaves very little room for dhelmise on teams. but the main thing kinda lies in rotom-mow's unmatched dominance on the current nu metagame, and it being a grass type too makes dhelmise really hard to fit on teams these days. grass type overlapping is something you kinda want to avoid as much as you can given that they aren't that good at covering each other's weaknesses with their dual typings. dhelmise is definitely still a pretty viable option but it is kinda getting overshadowed by the other grass types in the tier as meri said. hope i answered ur question mate!

Yeah you did thanks, just thought it was worth clearing up!

 

[Rabia]

here are some fun and quirky nomination to relax/study to:

-> A+
I'm not as sold on these two nominations, but I'll bring them up for discussion anyway. Indeedee-F has seen increased set exploration over the last few weeks, with Calm Mind Twisted Spoon and Choice Specs both seeing more usage. Despite Stakataka solidifying itself as the best Steel-type, it often forgoes Leftovers for a resist Berry, making it easier to wear down with entry hazards and repeated Expanding Forces. Additionally, the Dark-types that do see use are able to be bypassed with Dazzling Gleam or STAB Hyper Voice even, and offensive counterplay is limited because of Psychic Terrain blocking moves like Toxicroak's Sucker Punch and Sirfetch'd's First Impression.

Vileplume is a bastard. This Pokemon is like Vaporeon in that you really do need to mentally prepare for it or risk it walling your entire team. Trapper sets are obnoxious, Growth sets can sweep teams lacking a Salazzle or Indeedee-F with relative ease, and generic fat sets just have access to so many utility tools that they make existence painful. Dragalge's ban took away one of the most splashable countermeasures to the demon flower; respect it, or perish.

-> A
Alolan Exeggutor needs no introduction: it's a terrifying wallbreaker with a surprisingly high amount of set versatility that has very few defensive stops. Your best bets are Sylveon, Snorlax, and Mantine, the former being vulnerable to Choice Specs sets and Snorlax having to rely on Rest for recovery. It's also one of the better Vaporeon destroyers, only fearing the occasional Ice Beam.

Meanwhile, Toxicroak is simply one of the best balance breakers we have. The standard Swords Dance / Low Kick / Gunk Shot / Sucker Punch set has withstood every metagame trend and continues to be a demon to play around because of +2 Low Kick KOing even Mudsdale with minor chip damage. It does sit in a congested Speed tier, but the wallbreaking power combined with the convenient defensive utility---being a physical attacker that actually WANTS to switch into Scald is really cool---carry this Pokemon hard.

-> A-
Swords Dance Shuca Berry Drapion has remained a solid lure set to Mudsdale despite being very known. Dark-types are becoming convenient picks once again as Indeedee-F soars in usage, and Drapion has the benefit of not being weak to Fairy, which gives it a bit of insurance when attempting to block Expanding Force.

Nasty Plot Decidueye is a solid wallbreaker. Yeah, I did just mention Dark-types being better now, but Decidueye excels nonetheless because the ones that are seeing use don't check it as well as you'd hope for them to. Drapion's special bulk is pretty lacking, and it usually doesn't run Black Sludge; this makes pressuring it with Leaf Storm or Spell Tag Shadow Ball kind of trivial. Meanwhile, Scrafty is vulnerable to getting picked off by Leaf Storm if it gets unlucky with Shed Skin.

Heliolisk is a really damn good pivot. Its coverage is fantastic, and non-Choice item sets are seeing increased use now to combat the Protect spam we see nowadays. Even still, Choice Scarf sees decent use to help against Blastoise and other potent offensive Pokemon like Starmie, Salazzle, Talonflame, Tauros, and more.

Tauros is just an example of a strong and fast Pokemon with just the right coverage. Although it perpetually fears contact effects from Talonflame and Vileplume, it lacks consistent defensive checks, especially if you opt to run Adamant on it.

Sirfetch'd is effectively Machamp-lite. It's worse in damage output but offers a bit more longevity, a vastly better Speed tier, and a stronger priority move. Its inconsistency will always hurt it---somehow 50% critical hit chance feels like 5%---but it mostly performs the same.

 

[zS]

from B- to B/B+
This should not have dropped in the first place lmao. idk why my man was done dirty when it’s actually really good into common trends. obviously it won’t break bulkier builds the way eggy would but it’s still a really potent breaker and rocker that also soft checks a very large portion of the metagame. definitely a sleeper pick that i think should get more recognition.
from C to B-
dragons are really potent in nu who would’ve thought! with diancie being on a downfall and a lot of team simply not packing fairy types other than offensive sylveon, drampa is becoming a more and more used threat and is definitely better than what its vr position suggests. ranging from a great breaker with choice specs to a good hazard controle on bulkier teams to a dangerous set-up sweeper with cm resist berries, this pokemon is pretty versatile and is pretty solid into the current metagame. however, it is also held back by eggy-a’s current surge in usage and it’s the only rsn why i don’t place it higher me thinks.

now onto some noms i agree/disagree

and from A to A+ - agree
and from A- to A - agree
, and from B+ to A- - agree

from B+ to A- - disagree
this mon is potent, that’s true but it’s so hard to jusitify on teams cuz it literally bring nothing defensively and is way too frail to be switched in on mid strong neutral moves. it has the potential to do a lot ingame cuz it has the right coverage and good tools for breaking (being unlocked etc) but it just misses on so much kos when it’s not using a super effective move. the neutral coverage is there, but the super effective one by the fact of being a normal type holds it back by quite a lot. i think it’s significantly worse than all the A-‘s and not necessarily better than most of the B+‘s so i think it should stay there.

from B+ to A- - disagree
ummm helio is pretty bad and gastro dropping didn’t help at all. unlocked sets have some cool tools in u-turn and it does have 2 very cool immunities which is nice, but that’s about it. the damage output is pretty lackluster it’s kinda outclassed by rotom-c as an electric type cuz it provides more and actually does damage while pivoting. u-turn is good at enabling breakers but you’re usually getting in a position where you’d either want your electric type to take advantage of bulkier cores or just using it as a real pivot making it take some key hits to win the game. helio simply doesn’t have the bulk to achieve this role and while it pairs well with breakers that have seen an absurd surge in usage such as eggy, it’s still not good enough to warrant a rise imo.

from UR to C+ —> C agree
the reasons Jediment listed are good and i don’t want to repeat my self so just go read his post to ge the detailed stuff, but i think C+ is a bit too high for what sceptile really has to offer imo. it should still be ranked tho, so i think C is a good start until we see more from it in the future.

these were my 2 cents on the current VR, thanks for reading and hmu on discord if u have questions/wanna discuss some points.

 

[JoeMama]

A- -> B+

Hard disagree on this drop, blastoise still works on this type of team https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nu-1633263532-m4zo7w4e801rfjsfffpwix9s9n9kfy7pw.

 

[Luck O' the Irish]

Hard disagree on this drop, blastoise still works on this type of team https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8nu-1633263532-m4zo7w4e801rfjsfffpwix9s9n9kfy7pw.

blastoise is certainly a good pick for a grassy terrain HO team, but as a whole this style of team is very niche. i dont think thwakey is even on the NU vr. not to say its not usable, but not relevant enough for it to be mentioned.

in my sincere opinion, as a sweeper blastoise is a b- mon in my eyes. the meta is about as unkind to it as it can possibly be. the wish tect eons, quag and gastro, mantine, the rarer araquanid, croak, the more passive stuff it would like to set up on running tox, etc. to win in the meta stoise needs the following: a pretty hefty amount of support, luck, or opps forgetting about it in the builder. the luck component is the only irritating thing ab stoise imo. we've all lost to stoise via it dodging tox, multiple dark pulse flinches, a freeze on the last ditch offensive check, sometimes all put together. and it'll happen. stoise does have ways around typical counterplay, like eq for av raj and lisk, sub for tox, facade for vap, etc. deviating from surf/pulse/ibeam means stoise will be walled by a pretty significant contingent of mons (drop ibeam and u now need luck to beat grasses, for example).

to me nupl was a pretty definitive rebuttal of stoise being a top tier threat in the current meta (not to say you can ignore it in the builder). it was used 10 times total-- less than sandaconda, for a comparison that fits my narrative. There were 3 weeks it was never brought. It did end up with a 60% win rate, which is pretty deceiving when you look at the games--

lets start with the wins (not in any order)--

dodges toxic and then flinches mantine multiple times; omastar + stoise HO is brought into groundvally/diancie/indeedee/dhelmise/pass/talon; my beloved player and musharnas legend pdt has an unfortunate brainfart with a 100% winpath; stoise sets up, kills a sac, dies; an actual sweep where sub stoise comes in handy; and stoise ending an already won game (with assistance from a freeze).

now the losses (also in no order)--

stoise fails to net a kill against vap balance, stoise loses a game it could have won with flinch, does 50% to av raj, dies; stoise fails to net a kill against vap balance again

in all of these games stoise amounts to a significant player in three of them, and two of those because of its ability to flinch things with dark pulse.

this ended up being an unnecessary essay but i suppose it was a matter of time before i posted this. the amount of hype stoise has received in 2022 (with persistent calls for a suspect/ban at one point) in a tier as unfriendly to it as it possibly could be, and whose departure would change nothing in a meta with scarf mowtom, indeedee, eggy-a, groundvally, and lazzle running about, has always been confounding to me.

anyway, old man yelling at cloud over

 

[JoeMama]

blastoise is certainly a good pick for a grassy terrain HO team, but as a whole this style of team is very niche. i dont think thwakey is even on the NU vr. not to say its not usable, but not relevant enough for it to be mentioned.

in my sincere opinion, as a sweeper blastoise is a b- mon in my eyes. the meta is about as unkind to it as it can possibly be. the wish tect eons, quag and gastro, mantine, the rarer araquanid, croak, the more passive stuff it would like to set up on running tox, etc. to win in the meta stoise needs the following: a pretty hefty amount of support, luck, or opps forgetting about it in the builder. the luck component is the only irritating thing ab stoise imo. we've all lost to stoise via it dodging tox, multiple dark pulse flinches, a freeze on the last ditch offensive check, sometimes all put together. and it'll happen. stoise does have ways around typical counterplay, like eq for av raj and lisk, sub for tox, facade for vap, etc. deviating from surf/pulse/ibeam means stoise will be walled by a pretty significant contingent of mons (drop ibeam and u now need luck to beat grasses, for example).

to me nupl was a pretty definitive rebuttal of stoise being a top tier threat in the current meta (not to say you can ignore it in the builder). it was used 10 times total-- less than sandaconda, for a comparison that fits my narrative. There were 3 weeks it was never brought. It did end up with a 60% win rate, which is pretty deceiving when you look at the games--

lets start with the wins (not in any order)--

dodges toxic and then flinches mantine multiple times; omastar + stoise HO is brought into groundvally/diancie/indeedee/dhelmise/pass/talon; my beloved player and musharnas legend pdt has an unfortunate brainfart with a 100% winpath; stoise sets up, kills a sac, dies; an actual sweep where sub stoise comes in handy; and stoise ending an already won game (with assistance from a freeze).

now the losses (also in no order)--

stoise fails to net a kill against vap balance, stoise loses a game it could have won with flinch, does 50% to av raj, dies; stoise fails to net a kill against vap balance again

in all of these games stoise amounts to a significant player in three of them, and two of those because of its ability to flinch things with dark pulse.

this ended up being an unnecessary essay but i suppose it was a matter of time before i posted this. the amount of hype stoise has received in 2022 (with persistent calls for a suspect/ban at one point) in a tier as unfriendly to it as it possibly could be, and whose departure would change nothing in a meta with scarf fantom, indeedee, eggy-a, groundvally, and lazzle running about, has always been confounding to me.

anyway, old man yelling at cloud over

Well of course these are great points, however you mention Vaporeon balance and Vap itself (+2 252+ SpA Blastoise Terrain Pulse (100 BP Grass) vs. 252 HP / 40+ SpD Vaporeon in Grassy Terrain: 424-500 (91.3 - 107.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO) as you can see here can't beat blastoise 1v1 on this teamstyle. And as a quick mention I feel like thwackey does have a place in the meta due to the support it can offer and the revenge killing it can due with glide, anyways back to Blastoise . Mantine is a complete roadblock of course same with AV Raj but all mons that are reasonable have counters that are good on their own (unlike when terrakions best counter was an otherwise useless UU mon in palossand.) Yet I believe Blastoise to still be an A- rank threat but not tier defining or banworthy when mudsdale (+2 252+ SpA Blastoise Surf vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mudsdale: 552-650 (136.6 - 160.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO) is so common for example. Regardless of what comes of this it was great to see input from a well versed player so cheers I appreciate the discussion.

 

[Stories]

Tiering Update:
sheet found here under the August 23rd slate. Davon as abstained from voting this round.
Machamp and Sirfetch'd have been banned

Rises and Drops

Rises:

UR -> C

A+ -> S-
A -> A+
A -> A+
A- -> A
A- -> A
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A-
B -> B+
B -> B+

B -> B+
B- -> B
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C+ -> B-
C -> B-
C -> C+

Drops:

A- -> B+
A- -> B+
B+ -> B
B- -> C+
B- -> C
C -> UR

Rises and Drops with Reasons

Rises:

UR -> C Sceptile becomes a genuine threat when supported by terrain. It's coverage allows it to pick and choose what beats it, with Earthquake for Poison-types, Drain Punch for Steel-types, Rock Slide for Flying-types, or Acrobatics for Grass-types. Sceptile also has surprisingly great bulk when invested and boosted by a terrain seed, allowing it to easily set up at least one Swords Dance

A+ -> S- Silvally-Ground is a meta-defining Pokemon thanks to its great bulk, speed, typing, and ability to break or pivot for another breaker. It's been generally considered S-rank worthy and even a retest candidate for a bit now.
A -> A+ Another highly requested suspect test candidate, Indeedee-F's rise is credited to its devastating damage output. Easily 3HKO Steel-types without even clicking a coverage move, and it still gets great coverage with Mystical Fire for Steel-types and Dazzling Gleam for Dark-types. Choice Specs set push Indeedee-F into 5th gear, although Choice Scarf and Calm Mind sets can be just as lethal.
A -> A+ This is another Pokemon generally agreed upon to deserve to rise. Depending on its set it is capable of beating nearly anything by itself, and it overall lacks consistent switchins due to its natural strength coupled with Sludge Bomb poisons along with Sleep Powder, Corrosive Gas, and Infestation Leech Seed sets.
A- -> A Eggy-A is about as anti-meta as you can get right now. Having a positive matchup against nearly every other high tier mon, and also having a great defensive prowess to keep it around for as long as it'd like. Even relatively solid checks such as Stakataka and Sylveon can lose to the rare Swords Dance set or coverage like a respective Low Kick or Sludge Bomb.
A- -> A Toxicroak, much like Eggy-A, is well known for demolishing the ever-present Vaporeon balance cores, even beating Mudsdale with Life Orb Low Kick or a Nasty Plot set. Toxicroak's few checks like Talonflame and Silvally-Ground are slightly less common currently and the banning of Machamp and Sirfetch'd means far less competition for Toxicroak.
B+ -> A- Decidueye's versatility in sets and positive matchups into tier staples like Rotom-Mow, Silvally-Ground, and Vaporeon makes it very valuable as both a breaker and a defensive piece. Swords Dance sets are a main stay on hyper offense for its ability to break for partners or sweep if its partners have paved a way for it. Choice Band and Choice Specs both enjoy clicking STAB Ghost-type attacks into a tier almost entirely devoid of Ghost resists. Roost sets with Defog or Nasty Plot let Decidueye utilize its great matchups into high tier Pokemon even further by sustaining itself over the course of longer games.
B+ -> A- Undoubtedly one of the best Pokemon in the tier at making progress on bulkier teams. Drapion's STAB Knock Off, ability to Poison enemies with Poison Jab or even Toxic Spikes, and a fantastic defensive typing with great natural bulk allowing for relatively easy opportunities to Swords Dance make it very scary even into teams with solid checks such as Mudsdale, which hates having Leftovers removed.
B+ -> A- After showing what it can do in the tier, Gastrodon has proven itself to be a formidable tank and great role compression for bulkier teams that need a Water and Electric immunity.
B+ -> A- Recent exploration of non-choiced variants have given light to Heliolisk's great special attack and coverage, rather than its still great speed. Magnet allows Heliolisk to bluff Choice Specs rather effectively, while Heavy-Duty Boots, Expert Belt, and Choice Specs itself are all other great options on Heliolisk in the current meta. Heliolisk's coverage lets it threaten 2 of NU's rising stars, Gastrodon and Stakataka, with Grass Knot and Focus Blast respectively.
B+ -> A- Tauros's sheer power makes it a nightmare to go up against. Its speed tier is great enough that it can often afford an Adamant nature as well, making it even more terrifying. Its vulnerability to all kinds of hazards and status and reliance on contact moves is a negligible setback for its amazing offenses.
B -> B+ Mantine's blend of amazing defenses and surprisingly potent offensive capabilities through making use of high BP Hurricane and Toxic always ensures it will at least do something in each game. Finding hazard removal that isn't a Grass-type (Tsareena, Rotom-C, Dhelmise) can be quite difficult and compressing a Blastoise, Salazzle, and Exeggutor-A check into one spot is quite remarkable. Mantine's role as a Fighting-type resistance is now even better due to the ban of two of the more powerful Fighters that could actually take it out.
B -> B+ Less competition as a Fighting-type from Sirfetch'd and Machamp departing and further exploration of its Choice Band set has done Passimian very well. Passimian can often times set itself up for sweeps by simply forcing in Fighting resists and either damaging them with U-Turn or removing their items, making it a very self-sufficient Pokemon. Despite it being on the lower speed bracket for Choice Scarf users compared to the likes of Indeedee-F or Rotom-Mow, Passimian's natural bulk lets it quite comfortably pivot in on moves despite being a Scarfer.

B -> B+ Silvally-Steel saw a lot of use in NUPL to compress two of the greatest desired traits onto one Pokemon; Steel-typing and Defog. Although Silvally-Steel's natural bulk may leave more to be desired compared to that of Copperajah, Stakataka, or Escavalier, it has far greater speed and 2 great pivoting moves, and a much wider range of utility options at its disposal, including Toxic, Thunder Wave, orTailwind, and can even switch its role as a wall by using Swords Dance with its great bulk to find many chances to set up.
B- -> B Although Duraludon lacks the special bulk a proper "Steel" needs on a traditional team, it's much better at using its sheer power and solid coverage to rip holes through teams. Thunder(bolt) hitting bulky Water-types like Vaporeon and Mantine and Body Press chunking Steel-types means Duraludon is quite hard to manage defensively.Duraludon also serves as a great Stealth Rock setter as it beats Xatu head-to-head and can pivot out against unideal matchups while damaging them with Draco Meteor and the Eject Pack item.
C+ -> B- Sand teams are quite good in the current meta and seem to have an answer for every matchup. Sandslash and Lycaroc prove to be quite the pair together and they couldn't do it without Gigalith's Sand Stream.
C+ -> B- See Gigalith
C+ -> B- See Gigalith
C+ -> B- Sneasel boasts the two arguably best offensive types in the game with a powerful STAB Knock Off and Icicle Crash or Triple Axel as well. Coming off a whopping 115 base speed, Sneasel more than makes up for its nonexistent bulk, although even then its typing can allow it to pivot into Indeedee-F's expanding force.
C+ -> B- The common trend of doing well into Vaporeon balance teams means rising in viability, can you tell what's really good in the meta yet? Virizion's typing and bulk gives it a phenomenal matchup into many tier staples; Mudsdale, Silvally-Ground, Vaporeon, Rotom-Mow, Steel-types, and it has coverage for incoming unfavorable matchups such as Stone Edge to OHKO Talonflame and the bulk to set up Swords Dance and beat Xatu with the aforementioned Stone Edge or Poison-types like Vileplume and Toxicroak with Zen Headbutt. Virizion can rock special sets with Calm Mind and Air Slash as coverage for Grass-types, or even a mixed set with all out coverage, no setup.
C -> B- Ok it sets up on Vaporeon daring today aren't we? What if I told you it also beats Sylveon with its Calm Mind set too. Drampa also has a surprisingly solid typing in the meta but more importantly, two great abilities and a rainbow of a movepool.
C -> C+ Ninjask's ability to force chip on the Steel-types that so desperately need to stay healthy for breakers like Indeedee-F and Sylveon makes it a perfect pairing for those breakers as well as others. Ninjask also has a surprisingly easy time sweeping even slightly weakened teams due to how strong (and fast) a +2 Adamant Acrobatics can be. Ninjask does require very specific support to be functional, heavy hazard control, keeping offensive pressure on clerics to keep Steel-types low, etc., although it can be well worth the effort if supported properly.

Drops:

A- -> B+ Aerodactyl's overhype has died now, and the meta is just not kind to it. Looking at the most popular Pokemon in the meta, Choice Scarf Rotom-Mow, Mudsdale, Vaporeon.. Aerodactyl does not have a good time right now. It's suic*de sets are quite consistent although Kabutops can often accomplish its role and more. Aerodactyl is still a great offensive Fire-resist, and Dragon Dance sets are still very dangerous, but it was arguably overrated previously and it certainly is worse off than it was a couple months ago.
A- -> B+ We all saw this drop happening. Diancie is still a solid offensive cleric, but lacking an amazing typing or recovery means its all too short-term for a defensive role, especially when Stakataka or Sylveon can fulfill a specific role Diancie would want to take. Diancie provides great role compression although this often leads it to being overwhelmed and stretched too thinly trying to do too much as one Pokemon.
B+ -> B A breaker with almost no defensive utility, and STAB's with common resistences and not even having Knock Off as a Dark-type. Grimmsnarl is still quite scary to play against but it requires much more effort to get it on the field and even once it's on the field, you'd still have to make proper reads to accomplish anything.
B- -> C+ Braviary stocks have been down even since before Bronzong left the tier months ago. Substitute Bulk Up doesn't destroy slow bulky teams like it used to, especially now that Stakataka is in the tier, and although other sets do have a lot of merit, being 3 attacks Roost or even Defog sets, there's usually a different Pokemon that does Braviary's job better.
B- -> C The garbage is just garbage. Spikes are not permanent enough to justify something as passive as Garbodor. Better beneficiaries of Spikes like Heliolisk appreciate Garbodor's support but overall its just not worth the commitment.
C -> UR Sandaconda's main niche was being a bulky Ground-type that outsped Dragalge, which Mudsdale did not. Dragalge is gone and there's really not much reason to use Sandaconda over Mudsdale. Rest with Shed Skin and Glare is nice, but Mudsdale is much stonger and bulkier even if it is slower, which sometimes can be better when it comes to taking Stakataka's Gyro Ball.

The custom Silvally sprites used can be found in my signature if you're interested in nominating a Silvally form to a new spot on the VR.
Thank you Meri Berry for letting me post this update <3
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the thread or in the NU Discord Server

 

[Henne1205]

UR -> C, C+ In my opinion a very overlooked mon. It has a high usage rate (10,81% according to Pikalytics) and is a good stealth rocker which has with thick fat and eviolite considerable bulk with which it completly wall mons like arcanine. A big problem for hazard setters is mb xatu but with ice shard and icicle crash it has good counters against this pokemon. Most of the time you can even put it that two ice shards one shot xatu.
C-> C+, B- I think that it's a very good Psychic terrain sweeper. With one swords dance it can basically one shot every single high tier Nu pokemon.

 

[Lobby Eeveee]

Druddigon: C to B-
Druddigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 116 HP / 252 Atk / 140 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fire Punch
- Iron Head
- Thunder Punch
- Taunt
I have discovered that SFLO Druddigon can be a powerful balance breaker, which is especially good in a metagame revolving around Vaporeon Balance teams. For example, look at this set above. It is EV’d to outspeed 0 speed 31IVs Vaporeon, and iron head, Thunder punch and fire punch hit the defense portions of the balance cores hard. I also wanted to cripple mudsdale so I added in taunt (to prevent rocks and other non-attacking moves). Mudsdale walls this set otherwise. While SFLO Druddigon is slow, it can be brutal to balance and certain stall.
Mold Breaker rocks Druddigon is still okay against Xatu, with great utility with Glare, Taunt and Rocks that ignore magic bounce. However, I simply think SFLO Druddigon is better against the meta now, for its anti-balance properties

 

[Catalisador]

C -> C+​

With the recent Machamp and Sirfetch'd bans, Ghost-types are now a viable option in NU to fulfill general defensive roles and Jellicent proves to be one of the most effective ones in the current metagame, being an excellent answer to the likes of Passimian, Tauros and Salazzle. Furthermore, the jellyfish also dismantles bulkier Steel + Water structures with its combination of an excellent ability in Water Absorb, above average bulk and a wide support movepool with access to Taunt + reliably recovery. I strongly encourage y'all to give it a try right now.

UR -> C​

I've been messing around with Magneton and different Fairy- and Psychic-types (Specs Ribombee, Scarf Indeedee, etc) lately and I have to give a shoutout to the magnet's ability to excel at 1v1ing every Steel-type variant in the format with relative ease with a combination of Iron Defense + Rest + Charge Beam. I believe Magneton's ability to decimate defensive Steels fairly underexplored right now and definitely worth giving a try.

 

[Lucario]

Hi, it's time for my L takes that nobody asked for

A --> A-
Escavalier fails to meet the standards of a Steel-type these days. It's hard to fit on a team and has little defensive synergy with other common staples. Other A ranks have a strong presence and can turn the table in a battle, but Escavalier isn't able to do it as much as it used to. Checking Indeedee is nice, but hard losing to Mystical Fire isn't great.

A --> A-
Xatu has seen better days. The current Stealth Rock setters are easily able to beat it bar Mudsdale. It serves as a good Fighting-type check but fails when they all run Knock Off or a Rock-type move. In current meta its defining niche is to check Vileplume, which it cannot do consistently as Sludge Bomb hits hard and can Poison.

A- --> A
Poison types are really good right now, so are Dark types. Drapion is both. Drapion is able to revenge average speed sweepers like Toxicroak really well while maintaining a strong presence against Indeedee and the Sylveon + Steel cores. STAB Knock Off is a valuable asset that cripples Copperajah, Talonflame, and any Vileplume that has an item. Not to mention its own sweeping potential as it can break through a lot of defensive Pokemon easily.

B+ --> A-
Underrated Pokemon. Being able to take hits from Fighting-types and hit back with Air Slash or Hurricane is something Vaporeon wishes it could do. It also beats Vaporeon in 1v1s if it doesn't have Toxic, which allows for an easier time removing hazards or healing itself. Mantine also sits on Inteleon, a Pokemon that is bound to see more usage now that Blastoise is gone.

B- --> B+/A-
You knew this was coming. I have had a lot of success using Virizion on ladder, some success in Swiss, and at streamsniping Rabia. Unfortunately it doesn't have SCL success, but it's in week 3 still so there's more to see. Virizion is that Pokemon that is fast enough to check Silvally-Ground, bulky enough to eat a few Special moves, and aggressive enough to 6-0 Vaporeon balance. At +2 the only real threats Virizion needs to worry about are Vileplume and Weezing. Salazzle, Talonflame, and Scarf Indeedee have to revenge Virizion as they cannot switch into its hits.

There are a few other mons, most notably Stakataka, Guzzlord, and Stunfisk-G that should rise a subrank. Staka and Guzzlord have seen a lot of SCL usage already and are good defensive checks to some common threats. Stunfisk-G is a mini-Staka, it hasn't had much SCL usage but has been valuable in its games. I'm not doing a full nom for them because

 

[Rabia]

S rank should be overhauled because it doesn't reflect current NU really at all. Mudsdale has been usurped entirely as the best Ground-type and best Stealth Rock setter; I'd probably drop it out of S entirely into A+. It's still a strong option but faces really strong competition now from Stakataka, Silvally-Ground, and Gastrodon. Meanwhile, I'd probably raise Stakataka and Vileplume into S and get rid of S- so that Silvally-Ground can join those two + Rotom-C. They're all just really effective and are the most defining forces in the tier nowadays. You sort of have to go out of your way to ensure a positive matchup against Vileplume because its utility movepool is so disruptive, while Stakataka is simply too effective at what it does to not be in S. Silvally-Ground appreciates Mudsdale's lessened usage and continues to be a strong wallbreaker to no one's surprise.

Lucario doesn't go far enough in wanting to drop Escavalier to A-; it should be out of the A ranks entirely. It fails as a Steel-type because it gets shafted by the common foes you want a Steel-type to check, and being one of few Vileplume answers is not proving to be enough to keep it afloat. You'd just almost always prefer a Stakataka or Copperajah in its slot.

The bulky Water-types hierarchy needs addressing. Vaporeon is not an A+ Pokemon at all, and it's not even top-2 as a defensive Water-type option. It's just worse than Mantine and Gastrodon because all of its abusers are peaking right now, in particular Toxicroak. I'd probably rank the top-4 as 1) Mantine, 2) Gastrodon, 3) Vaporeon, and 4) Quagsire. I think the former two are easily A rank, while Vaporeon should sit in A-. Teams just currently don't allow Vaporeon balance builds the luxury to sit around and play the long game like they used to, and somehow Sylveon is starting to seem like the superior Wish passer because, despite arguably having more Pokemon that switch into it and take advantage of the free turns it yields, those Pokemon aren't as dangerous as the ones Vaporeon allows in. If we REALLY want to be conservative with dropping a former metagame staple, sure throw it in A for now and wait and see throughout the rest of SCL if its prospects improve---it just has no reason to be above Mantine and Gastrodon.

rise Drampa to like B+ for no reason other than it's a pretty competent Vileplume abuser and wallbreaks quite well, albeit needing to predict better than Alolan Exeggutor

 

[DimLug]

Drampa B- --> B. I was skeptical about this guy at first, what with its pathetic speed and decent but not great bulk. But by golly this thing is a beast. Specs sets are immediately threatening due to its monstrous special attack stat and extremely colorful movepool. And by colorful, I mean like Rainbow Road colorful. Flamethrower/Fire Blast, Surf/Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt/Thunder, Hurricane, Shadow Ball, Energy Ball/Grass Knot, Focus Blast, Extrasensory, Ice Beam/Blizzard. In terms of coverage packages, they don't get much better than that. All three of its abilities can be useful as well, though I typically like Berserk on Specs sets since it can give you more power on your Draco Meteor again. Sap Sipper is also nice since you become immune to both of Decidueye's STAB options and completely wall most Rotom-Mows and respond with a Draco Meteor to the face that not a whole of the tier can safely come into. Of course, Calm Mind sets are always there too to take advantage of a forced switch. Roost also offers great recovery for these sets to help Drampa work as a specially bulky setup sweeper. Like I said, I wasn't so sure about Drampa when I was looking for a final solidified member of the team, but Drampa is definitely proving its worth to me. I don't think it's quite A tier level, as it does have obvious issues, but if you can clear a path for it, it's incredible late game when the Fairys and Steels have been weakened if not straight up KOed.


Heliolisk A- --> Lower. It's a strong special attacker with high speed and decent coverage moves, but unfortunately it simply gets walled a lot (not even necessarily by Ground types) and can rarely tank a hit that it doesn't resist. Choice-locked sets (the usual Lisk sets) are fairly easy to scout and work around since it's coverage pool is decent but not great. Frankly it's outclassed almost entirely by Rotom-Mow, which offers stab on its Grass type attacks, has a ground immunity, and can actually have a decent defensive resume. I know that that's already implied in the tiering of the two, but I rarely ever find an instance where one would want to use Heliolisk unless you A) didn't want a Grass type on your team or B) want a faster electric scarfer. Heliolisk is relegated to Volt Switching most of the time, which is a great niche to have but I don't think it quite reflects its tiering placement.

 

[Pokeslice]

S rank should be overhauled because it doesn't reflect current NU really at all.

S --> A+
100% agree with doing a rehaul of the S/S- ranks right now. Muds is no longer a seemingly mandatory Pokemon on teams with another great Ground-type (Gastro) and a Stealth Rocker (Staka) dropping into a tier where Silvally-Ground is clearly the more defining Ground-type. Muds is still a great choice, don't get me wrong, but it's not the S rank titan it has been all gen in this meta.

A+ --> S-/S
The most broken Pokemon we have deserves to be higher. In my eyes, Plume and Silvally-G are the two most restricting Pokemon to face in the builder, and without specific prep and thought, chances are you'll be 6-0ed by Plume. VR should reflect it before we hopefully yeet it.

The bulky Water-types hierarchy needs addressing.

/ / --> All A
Probably long overdue once Gastrodon dropped, I think all three bulky Waters should be placed in A tier at the moment. Gastro adds some much needed compression through another Volt immune and Water Absorber and Mantine has rocketed with usage as a Water-type that beats Eggy-A, Toxicroak, Vileplume, and Scrafty while adding a much appreciated Ground immunity. As for Vaporeon, anyone who wanted that mon banned...Anyways, I still think that it's a powerful presence in the tier and can be extremely annoying to break while providing some much wanted clerical traits, but it's no secret that people have massively adapted to how warping it was for such a long time. Toxicroak, Eggy-a, Vileplume, fat set up sweepers, and more, have all been seeing a massive rise in popularity, and I have no doubt that beating Vap balance has a large part to play in that. It still should be A tier in my opinion, and I like it more than Sylveon, but it's definitely had a fall from grace.

A- --> A
Poison types are really good right now, so are Dark types. Drapion is both. Drapion is able to revenge average speed sweepers like Toxicroak really well while maintaining a strong presence against Indeedee and the Sylveon + Steel cores. STAB Knock Off is a valuable asset that cripples Copperajah, Talonflame, and any Vileplume that has an item. Not to mention its own sweeping potential as it can break through a lot of defensive Pokemon easily.

How do I vote for something twice. Drapion is amazing right now thanks to its typing, speed tier, and Knock Off. I think more people should start exploring Taunt Drapion in order to beat Vileplume 1v1, but really all Drapion sets that aren't SpDef are really nice in this meta.

/ B+ --> A-
All our Dark-types are extremely powerful right now, even beyond an Indeedee matchup. Guzz is an amazing progress maker, super bulky, and has a lot of utility options with stuff like RestTalk D-Tail. Choiced sets are also effective, but not if you use Specs (trust me on this one). As for Scrafty, the rise in Plume, Mantine, and Special Croak definitely don't help it, but Scrafty is an extremely potent set up sweeper who can make progress for itself with Knock Off. It's basically a Dark-type Lax.

 

[Punchshroom]

Trevenant @ Choice Band
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Poltergeist
- Horn Leech
- Drain Punch / Earthquake

252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 564-666 (121.5 - 143.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mudsdale: 414-488 (102.4 - 120.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Diancie: 308-366 (101.3 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sylveon: 270-318 (68.5 - 80.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery [2HKOes through Protect]
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 212+ Def Weezing: 172-204 (51.4 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vileplume: 211-249 (59.6 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Poltergeist vs. 248 HP / 52 Def Talonflame: 324-382 (90.2 - 106.4%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 80 HP / 0 Def Drapion: 132-156 (43.8 - 51.8%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Drain Punch vs. 0 HP / 184 Def Guzzlord: 300-354 (51.1 - 60.3%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Wood Hammer vs. 80 HP / 252 Def Snorlax: 297-349 (61.7 - 72.5%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Drain Punch vs. 80 HP / 252 Def Snorlax: 248-292 (51.5 - 60.7%)
252+ Atk Choice Band Trevenant Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Stakataka: 332-392 (101.8 - 120.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

I feel that in the wake of the recent upsurge in bulky mons, particularly bulky Water-types, Trevenant could have a niche among its many Grass-type holepunching brethren. For starters, Natural Cure is by far Trevenant's greatest asset which none of the other offensive Grass-types have, as it gives Trevenant many privileges such as switching into Scalds, Toxics from Mudsdale and Stakataka, and even lets Trevenant afford to stay in and smack Weezing for a good chunk before being forced out by Wisp. Natural Cure also lets Trevenant make use of Rest if you so choose, though I personally feel that Trevenant should be throwing out attacks as much as possible. Trevenant most obviously competes with Dhelmise due to their similar STABs, power, and coverage, but while Dhelmise constantly has to worry about getting worn down by status, Trevenant not only shrugs off status, but has Horn Leech as a source of healing while still maintaining offensive pressure, as well as a higher speed tier for the likes of Golurk, Alolan Exeggutor, Guzzlord, and all but the fastest variants of Sylveon and Mantine.

Trevenant also has a mixture of qualities that the other Grass-types don't have; it has substantially better OHKOing potential than Decidueye, isn't dicked over by the likes of Talonflame and Weezing like Tsareena is, doesn't care about Scald burns like Alolan Exeggutor, and has the better speed tier over Dhelmise. Trevenant has other cute tools like Trick, Sucker Punch, and the aforementioned Rest, but the other traits are the main selling points that would give Trevenant the right to be ranked alongside its offensive Grass brethren.

 

[Charmflash]

tangela up
garbodor up
jynx ranked, Id rank it above C but at least C
alo-persian ranked, C

 

[Stories]

tangela up
garbodor up
jynx ranked, Id rank it above C but at least C
alo-persian ranked, C

Going to flesh this out bc you can't be fucked (based)

Jynx shows a defined niche in the metagame with the decline of Vaporeon (Jynx beats Vaporeon 1v1 but Vaporeon can just wishpass to a Jynx check). With the increase of Mantine and Gastrodon, Jynx's usable special bulk and water immunity let it consistently Nasty Plot and boast near perfect Psychic / Ice / Fighting coverage with a serviceable speed tier. Obviously Jynx has a ton of flaws but serving the role of Toxicroak except beating Gastrodon and Mantine definitely deserves consideration.

0 SpA Gastrodon Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Jynx: 94-112 (34.6 - 41.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 SpA Mantine Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Jynx: 103-123 (38 - 45.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

+2 252 SpA Jynx Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Copperajah-Gmax: 432-510 (112.2 - 132.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 SpA Jynx Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Scrafty: 336-396 (100.5 - 118.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Garbodor fell down in the meta dominated by broken Fighting-types that could muscle past it with raw power. This metagame also saw a lot of Mudsdale and Xatu usage to attempt to combat these Fighting-types. The Fighters are gone now. Xatu and Muds both are seen less often due to Stakataka's hold on the meta. Garbodor checks Toxicroak and gets Spikes up. He's pretty okay, C tier was a kneejerk reaction imo.

Tangela checks broken ass Silvally-Ground (until it gets U-Turned on and now there's a salazzle or vileplume or indeedee on the field for free can we please ban every Pokemon I just mentioned :D ) and also spreads Knock Off and status pretty effectively. It's use of Eviolite makes it seem reliant on Eviolite but its natural bulk even without it is pretty crazy. I see Tangela as an alternate form of eldegoss; Grass regen orb-shaped fella, one is passive af but has special bulk and spin, one has knock and status and a strong leaf storm and good phys def but no spin. Both Eldegoss and Tangela both deserve like B- at worst imo

Persian-A doesn't have a BW sprite but its fast and bulky which is rare in this slow ass tier so he's neat

 

[Charmflash]

Going to flesh this out bc you can't be fucked (based)

Jynx shows a defined niche in the metagame with the decline of Vaporeon (Jynx beats Vaporeon 1v1 but Vaporeon can just wishpass to a Jynx check). With the increase of Mantine and Gastrodon, Jynx's usable special bulk and water immunity let it consistently Nasty Plot and boast near perfect Psychic / Ice / Fighting coverage with a serviceable speed tier. Obviously Jynx has a ton of flaws but serving the role of Toxicroak except beating Gastrodon and Mantine definitely deserves consideration.


Garbodor fell down in the meta dominated by broken Fighting-types that could muscle past it with raw power. This metagame also saw a lot of Mudsdale and Xatu usage to attempt to combat these Fighting-types. The Fighters are gone now. Xatu and Muds both are seen less often due to Stakataka's hold on the meta. Garbodor checks Toxicroak and gets Spikes up. He's pretty okay, C tier was a kneejerk reaction imo.

Tangela checks broken ass Silvally-Ground (until it gets U-Turned on and now there's a salazzle or vileplume or indeedee on the field for free can we please ban every Pokemon I just mentioned :D ) and also spreads Knock Off and status pretty effectively. It's use of Eviolite makes it seem reliant on Eviolite but its natural bulk even without it is pretty crazy. I see Tangela as an alternate form of eldegoss; Grass regen orb-shaped fella, one is passive af but has special bulk and spin, one has knock and status and a strong leaf storm and good phys def but no spin. Both Eldegoss and Tangela both deserve like B- at worst imo

Persian-A doesn't have a BW sprite but its fast and bulky which is rare in this slow ass tier so he's neat

tangela does surprisingly well into rotom-mow also, u can invest into a more mixed defensive spread and u even beat NP while running +def nature.

vap cant just wishpash vs jynx because u block flip and ure +2 vs hardswitch so I think its just great vs him too. psychic is for sure an optional move, u can also run sub or heal bell in that last slot, in fact I think it makes more sense to do so

persian also gives u a pretty cool angle for adding a choice scarf pokemon to your team, which additionally lets it cripple a fat mon and grants u momentum extremely well because it even outspeeds scarf rotom (beware diancie and xatu, u can cripple them with switcheroo)

other than that pretty spot on, u explained garbodor better than I could of

 

[Expulso]

Heres how the VR would look if the tiers were based SOLELY off of SCL usage:

S:

A+:

A:

A-:

B+:

B:

B-: Everything with 1 use -- notably,


"Obviously this isn't a literal exercise", I thought, but... it looks like a kinda good VR? There are some things that are off but it gives us a lot of interesting takeaways, which I'll try to go thru:
- Escavalier fell off HARD. No Rocks on steel is inconvenient, and the quad weakness to fire is really just killer.
- Mantine as best water (but Vaporeon isn't gone!) -- the bulky water hierarchy has leaned towards Mantine over Vap to get ahead of Toxicroak/Eggy-A/Scrafty/Plume's rises in usage, but Gastro is victimized more than Vaporeon. The death of fat vap balance has been heavily prophesized but seems a bit overblown so far
- Dark types are very very good, showing Indeedee's impact on the meta but also their own merits. Interestingly, the dark type least susceptible to Gleam, Drapion, is the lowest in usage. Maybe a good sign for non-choiced Gleam Indeedee, or just a sign that reliable recovery is worth more than the lack of a Fairy weakness.
- Stunfisk-G in A is probably a shock because, well, the mon sucks. However it is worth it for many teams to have a way to block Mower's Volt Switch (and also compressing Rocks into the slot while you're at it, explaining why it gets so much more usage than Togedemaru). This could be evidence for Mowtom being overcentralizing -- dealing with its 50-50s is a massive pain and slapping on a shitmon to make them less devastating is worth it for some Rotom-weak teams.
- Articuno-Galar has risen a lot and should be viewed as a relevant metagame threat.
- LOTS of diversity among offensive grasses: 3 in B+ and 2 in B. With Escavalier this far down, I wonder if any more see relevant usage.


What jumps out to yall? Obviously the exercise of "what if the vr were just tour usage" shouldn't be taken very literally, but I find it interesting to compare my perceptions to the way the tier's official teamtour has played out in practice. Personally, I think Weezing is one of the biggest omissions in the high ranks -- I find it really easy to put onto teams (and same with Gastro). Im also surprised that Starmie is this high since I cant say ive ever thought that it would fit well onto a team (and offensive sets are forced to choose between Gastro and Mantine coverage, which feels fishy). This also supports my feeling that Decidueye (0 usage), Drapion, and Tauros are all rather overrated. Discuss away

 

[Stories]

Tiering update
sheet found here under the September 27th slate. OnArceus as abstained from voting this round. GXE has joined us and will participate in future voting slates.
Blastoise has been banned.

Rises and Drops:

Rises:
UR -> B
UR -> C+
A+ -> S
A+ -> S-
A -> A+
A- -> A
A- -> A
B+ -> A-
B+ -> A
B+ -> A
B+ -> A-
B -> B+
B -> B+
B- -> B
B- -> B+
B- -> B
C+ -> B-
C -> B-
C -> C+
C -> C+
C -> C+
C -> C+

Drops:
S -> S-
A+ -> A-
A -> A-
A- -> B+
B -> B-

Rises and Drops with reasons:

Rises:

UR -> B Gallade was often outclassed by Sirfetch'd and Machamp as a Fighting-type. With less competition its quite clear to see why its usage has increased drastically, especially given its positive MU's into common Fighting-type checks such as Vileplume and Weezing.
UR -> C+ Despite lacking Magnezone's Body Press, Magneton still makes use of Magnet Pull to effectively trap or at least weaken Steel-types, depending on its set. Taking out Steel-types is often the main priority for teams as they're often the only thing preventing a sweep with Indeedee-F or Sylveon.
A+ -> S Stakataka's compression of Steel typing and Stealth Rock while not being weak to Fire-type attacks makes it feel nearly mandatory on some balance-oriented teams. It has firmly cemented itself as the best Steel-type in the tier by a considerable amount and holds a lot of the tier together. Stakataka's raw bulk lets it be one of few Indeedee-F checks while reliably spreading Toxic on bulky Water-types and Mudsdale while having a naturally nuclear Gyro Ball and great coverage in Body Press making it quite difficult to switch into despite it being a defensive Pokemon.
A+ -> S- Vileplume's time in the tier has never been better; the best Dragon-types are gone as well as 2 Fighting-types that could often overpower it despite the type disadvantage. Vileplume's set variety and annoying moves like Strength Sap and Sludge Bomb make it virtually impossible to manage defensively. These sets include moves that can cripple offensive checks such as Corrosive Gas and Sleep Powder, although defensive Pokemon that typically don't mind an uninvested Sludge Bomb or Giga Drain such as Guzzlord or Stakataka simply get trapped and KO'd by an Infestation + Leech Seed set. Growth sets hit right in the middle, completely dunking on the average balance team by boosting on more passive Pokemon and KO-ing offensive ones with boosted attacks while Sapping any damage it takes back.
A -> A+ Toxicroak's ability lets it completely weaponize its opponents Water-types and make them a liability for the opponent while also possessing incredibly powerful STAB moves that can bypass common checks very easily such as Gunk Shot on Talonflame or Low Kick and Focus Blast for Mudsdale. Common physical walls like Mudsdale and Weezing will lose to a surprise Nasty Plot set and although Toxicroak can net raw OHKO's, its typing and ability means it often can setup in the face of a lot of the tier. Many would say Toxicroak was simply underrated from the beginning but with the developments of Shuca Berry Toxicroak to take on Silvally-Ground and Gastrodon better, even with a general decline of the Vaporeon's Toxicroak exploits so hard, Toxicroak feels fantastic in the current meta.
A- -> A Gastrodon compresses the bulky Water and Ground into one slot while having Ice Beam to prevent it from being complete fodder against Grass-types, netting a 2HKO on almost all of them and OHKOing Eggy-A. There's not too much Gastrodon does different from what it did before or in any other tier its been in but it was criminally underrated before.
A- -> A Tauros matches the power of common slow wallbreakers akin to Golurk or Exploud while reaching speeds higher than that of Silvally-Ground even with an Adamant nature. The sheer power and speed make Tauros nearly impossible to manage at all points of the game. Its vulnerability to all hazards and status and poor special defense are a liability, although this often applies to other wallbreakers mentioned before, while Tauros doesn't have a tragic speed tier or rely on a Choice-item to do damage. Choice Scarf Tauros sees more use to even further take advantage of its great speed tier, often cleaning up games where a slower Tauros would get revenge KO'd by an opposing Scarf user or one of the few Pokemon faster than it.
B+ -> A- Aerodactyl's speed tier and typing lets it act as a surprisingly effective defensive pivot while retaining the qualities of a deadly sweeper. It takes on Salazzle incredibly well because its speed never puts it on the defensive backfoot against it, and its naturally great coverage and high BP moves lets it often sweep in end games, even without a Dragon Dance, although DD sets are incredibly easy to line up wins for. Aerodactyl also offers Stealth Rock while having a reliable MU against many Defoggers or can Toxic checks like Mudsdale and Gastrodon to support other teammates.
B+ -> A If Finchinator was secretly a Guzzlord I wouldn't be shocked given how perfect the metagame became for it. Fighting-types? gone. Probably the most broken Pokemon in the tier? a Psychic-type. I'll let you do the math. Guzzlord's ability to make progress with Knock Off is like no other, and is accentuated even further with a Choice Band, which can also aid in luring common checks like Sylveon and Vileplume. Defensive sets with Dragon Tail can let Guzzlord consistently check nearly anything that doesn't have an inherent type advantage while even further making progress on teams by phasing and disrupting, getting hazard damage after removing opposing Boots.
B+ -> A Mantine is probably the best Water-type currently. As a Water-type that can beat Toxicroak and Grass-types with a good speed stat, it sets itself clearly apart from the others.
B+ -> A- Take what I said about Guzzlord but also make it have some horrible hate-child with Snorlax and you get Scrafty. Scrafty's ability to shrug off status and special attacks in general while crippling its checks with Knock Off makes it feel impossible to win long-term against.
B -> B+ Blastoise leaving takes a tremendous burden off Dhelmise, which commonly had to run almost max SDef to reliably take on Blastoise (as reliably as one can get). Phys def Dhelmise can take even Knock Off very easily and also wall Silvally-Ground.
B -> B+ Duraludon takes the spot as the decently fast powerful Dragon-type with coverage for Steels. It's special bulk obviously leaves much to be desired but this is an offensive Pokemon anyway. It still takes on Vileplume and Mantine extremely well despite its poor bulk and its coverage is quite difficult to pivot around.
B- -> B Drampa's bulk and Sap Sipper lets it take advantage of Vileplume and also completely wall Decidueye while also beating most defensive walls by Calm Minding in their face, even eventually beating Sylveon. Choice Specs sets are often outclassed due to the poor speed stat but Drampa is simply one of the most powerful Pokemon available in the tier.
B- -> B+ Inteleon still autowins in MU's that lack a water immunity. Although there's a few more immunities, they're far more vulnerable to U-Turn in a meta where gaining momentum on Water-types is crucial.
B- -> B Sneasel has an absurd speed tier and one of the best offensive STAB Combinations available with priority Ice Shard. Dark-types as a whole in this meta are much better currently and Sneasel is one of the best offensive ones.
C+ -> B- Stunfisk-G's compression is actually insane. Steel-type, Ground-type, Stealth Rock? One of the only ways to stop Rotom-Mow and can actually threaten stuff despite its passivity with Sludge Bomb poisons and Foul Play to deter setup attempts.
C -> B- Garbodor admittedly may have underrated prior to this. Spikes with Helmet + Aftermath and a great defensive typing with good bulk and Pain Split lets it reliably check / weaken Pokemon like Copperajah. Haze sets can freely Spike on Vileplume and Scrafty without them setting up and Stomping Tantrum snipes Gunk Shot resists like Salazzle and Stakataka.
C -> C+ Rhydon (haha) is simply extremely strong and bulky. It's coverage in Heat Crash or Megahorn coupled with EdgeQuake lets it 2HKO almost the entire tier, with natural bulk and usable speed to Swords Dance past more defensive cores like the classic Vaporeon Mudsdale. Its basically a more offensive Mudsdale with no item or ability.
C -> C+ People have finally admitted that terrain teams are more than just a low ladder strategy, and Sceptile is legitimately scary and can very easily sweep entire teams if it actually has the right coverage. It's bulk with a seed boost lets it Swords Dance relatively freely and Leaf Blade with EQ, Acrobatics, Rock Slide, or Low Kick is super scary.
C -> C+ STRONG
C -> C+ Sorry Meri this Pokemon is very strong and Dark-types especially are great right now.

Drops:

S -> S- With a huge uptick in bulky Water-types, Grass-types no longer being dictated on whether or not they have to live a Blastoise Ice Beam, and other anti-Mudsdale developments like Low Kick Toxicroak and Toxic Aerodactyl make life quite hard for Mudsdale as good as it is.
A+ -> A- Vaporeon has dropped for a few reasons; the meta became tailor-made around beating it, other Water-types became better for other reasons, and maybe it was overrated from the beginning (maybe).
A -> A- Escavalier is a Steel-type that loses to the most dominant Psychic-type. That alone is brutal. Escavalier is also a Steel-type without Stealth Rock, meaning it often has to be paired with Mudsdale, making the entire team super slow on average.
A- -> B+ Quagsire is still a great defensive cornerstone, but it finds itself slightly overwhelmed by Pokemon its meant to check, with Salazzle and Silvally-Ground both nearly 2HKOing it, meaning any slight chip makes it fail as a wall.
B -> B- Grimmsnarl undeniably packs a punch but in a tier where other Pokemon also do so equally while also providing an inkling of defensive utility make Grimmsnarl fall short in comparison. It's still strong for sure but a breaker that struggles to hit the field is often a wasted slot.

 

[Stories]

Articuno-G UR -> B+

Slaystie (Articuno-Galar) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 144 HP / 180 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
- Future Sight
- Recover
- U-turn
- Hurricane

Whether or not it may be a product of a warped metagame, Galarian Articuno is undeniably good right now. As it stands, both Indeedee-F and Vileplume give a lot of players grief for their strength in the builder and in battle. Typically a Steel-type is tasked with taking on these Pokemon, although given the context of the sets or the rest of the team, Steel-types often stretch themselves thin trying to check too many Pokemon, often due to most of them lacking recovery. Articuno-G, particularly the spread that I made when building a team for Danny for SCL, avoids a 2HKO from Vileplume's Sludge Bomb even while poisoned, outspeeds Timid Choice Specs Indeedee-F and also lives two Timid Expanding Forces, and always survives a +2 Rock Slide from Silvally-Ground. The Speed outpaces Rotom-Mow, which especially with the team Danny brought, will very likely trick its Choice Scarf away.

0 SpA Vileplume Sludge Bomb vs. 144 HP / 4 SpD Articuno-Galar: 105-124 (29.4 - 34.7%) -- 9.3% chance to 3HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Indeedee-F Expanding Force (120 BP) vs. 144 HP / 4 SpD Articuno-Galar in Psychic Terrain: 153-180 (42.8 - 50.4%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO

+2 252 Atk Silvally-Ground Rock Slide vs. 144 HP / 0 Def Articuno-Galar: 302-356 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Competitive greatly deters Vileplume from using Strength Sap, while also exploiting Mystical Fire intended to hit a Steel-type from the likes of Sylveon or the Indeedee-F that you wall and entirely screwing over anything that wants to use Defog. Future Sight, especially with U-Turn creates debatably broken setplay especially given Articuno-G provides damage beyond just Future Sight, which Xatu and the late Bronzong never do.

 

[Rabia]

Articuno-G UR -> B+

Slaystie (Articuno-Galar) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Competitive
EVs: 144 HP / 180 SpA / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
- Future Sight
- Recover
- U-turn
- Hurricane

Whether or not it may be a product of a warped metagame, Galarian Articuno is undeniably good right now. As it stands, both Indeedee-F and Vileplume give a lot of players grief for their strength in the builder and in battle. Typically a Steel-type is tasked with taking on these Pokemon, although given the context of the sets or the rest of the team, Steel-types often stretch themselves thin trying to check too many Pokemon, often due to most of them lacking recovery. Articuno-G, particularly the spread that I made when building a team for Danny for SCL, avoids a 2HKO from Vileplume's Sludge Bomb even while poisoned, outspeeds Timid Choice Specs Indeedee-F and also lives two Timid Expanding Forces, and always survives a +2 Rock Slide from Silvally-Ground. The Speed outpaces Rotom-Mow, which especially with the team Danny brought, will very likely trick its Choice Scarf away.



Competitive greatly deters Vileplume from using Strength Sap, while also exploiting Mystical Fire intended to hit a Steel-type from the likes of Sylveon or the Indeedee-F that you wall and entirely screwing over anything that wants to use Defog. Future Sight, especially with U-Turn creates debatably broken setplay especially given Articuno-G provides damage beyond just Future Sight, which Xatu and the late Bronzong never do.

VR council unanimously decided to add Galarian Articuno to B+ given its prolonged success in SCL and the reasons listed in togkey's post here

 

[Pika134]

Hi I’m pretty new here and so here’s my personal opinions on pokémon viability Tier List.

S Rank:

S Rank

Rotom-Mow

Silvally-Ground

Vileplume

Stakataka

A Rank:

A+ Rank

Copperajah- while Stakataka is the definitive steel type in Nu, but Stakataka does struggle against bulky water type, but with Copperajah amazing move pool and good special bulk it’s counters bully water and steel types, but it’s does have an Abysmal physical bulk.

Indeedee-F- specs sets makes Indeedee-F as a threat, and while scarf sets are fine but it’s doesn’t hit hard, Rotom-Mow is just the best choice scarf user in the tier, plus if it does runs a modest nature it just gets Revenge kill by scarf Passimian, with specs it just hit things hard, but Indeedee-F need to watch for dark types.

Salazzle

Sylveon

Toxicroak- with an amazing ability and countering fairy types, Toxicroak is becoming one of the best fighting type in the tier but it needs to be careful of status, bulky ground types, and Indeedee-F because it blocks Sucker Punch.

Talonflame

Mudsdale- while Mudsdale is still great in Nu, but it’s not a tier titan in my eyes. plus as a ground type and stealth rock setter it’s just outclassed by Silvally-Ground and Stakataka respectively, it’s just lacks recovery and hates getting its leftovers getting Knock Off, and xatu Magic Bounce ability can annoy mudsdale all day.

A Rank

Snorlax

Gastrodon- easily one of the best water type in the tier, while Mantine does have hurricane to hit Toxicroak hard, but if Gastrodon gets hit a water type move it’s boost it’s special attack and it hits Toxicroak hard with a stab Earth Power that doesn’t have an annoying Accuracy, and yes it’s does hate grass types but none of them want to get hit with a toxic besides Vileplume

Xatu

Drapion- Drapion is easily one of the best dark types in the tier in my opinion, yes it does have a disappointing attack state, but with sword dance and stab Poison Jab it just hit fairy types hard and can hit Stakataka hard with Earthquake, but it’s needs to watch out for special attacks in the tier.

Exeggutor-Alola

Mantine- while not being the best bulky water in the tier in my eyes but it’s still 2nd best water type in the tier, but it have to watch out for electric type moves.

Tauros

Tsareena

A- Rank

Guzzlord- while it does have an monstrous attack state and can hit like truck if you give it Choice band, but it’s bulk is just awful and it’s choice lock then your screw when a fairy type does switch in to outrage you are screw and when you do Swich in a pokemon will used U-Turn or Volt switch to bring in a dangerous teammate, but if it does swich in safely it’s just dangerous.

Passimian- it’s kinda shocking how this pokémon is in B+ because it’s a great revenge killer and a pivot, yes it does problems like being outclassed by scarf Rotom-Mow, hates getting status, and bulky pokémon to annoy it. while Toxicroak is still the best fighting type but as a revenge killer it’s get outspeed by Silvally-Ground and Talonflame, but for Passimian can kill Talonflame with Rock Slide and with enough chip damage it can OHKO Silvally-Ground, while bulky pokémon can switch to Passimian but none of them cannot switch into a knock Off.

Decidueye

Scrafty

Starmie

Aerodactyl

Vaporeon- while vaporeon can be still be the most annoying pokémon in the tier, but as a wish support and bulky water type it’s really just outclasse by it’s sister Sylveon as a wish support and it’s just outclassed by Gastrodon and Mantine as a bulk water, and Dry Skin users like Toxicroak and Heliolisk can be annoying for Vaporeon.

B Rank:

B+ Rank

Weezing

Silvally-Steel

Dhelmise

inteleon- while inteleon isn’t a bulky water type and gets revenge Killed easily, but it’s hits incredible hard and just used U-turn on a bulky water or Dry Skin Pokemon.

Heliolisk- Heliolisk is really just outclassed by Rotom-Mow and Toxicroak respectively, Rotom Mow can hit Heliolisk with a stab Leaf Storm or just Volt switch into a ground type, while Toxicroak can set up with Sword Dance and hits opponents hard without being choice lock, even if you slap a scarf on heliolisk it’ damage output doesn’t hit hard and gets well easily, but I do think specs can hit pretty hard, but needs to predict correctly if not it gets completely walled.

Quasire

Diancie

Sneasel- while it’s bulk is not great and gets revenge kill by scarf user, but with a great speed and a good move pool it makes a dangerous threat and choice band can hit hard, but it Leaves it vulnerable to entry hazards.

B Rank

Articuno-Galar- while Articuno-Galar does Counter big threats like Vileplume, Indeedee-F, and Silvall-Ground, but if I’m being honest it’s pretty mix between mediocre to good. but I think the problem with Articuno is the rise of great Dark types in the tier like Sneasel, Drapion, and Guzzlord, sure dark types like Scrafty and Guzzlord need to watch out for Hurricane and U-turn respectively, but Sneasel can revenge kill it, while both Drapion and Artcuno-Galar while sharing the same speed stat, but Drapion can hit it hard with a stab Knock off, and it needs to watch out for status.

Tyrantrum

Drampa

Araquanid

Golurk

Gallade

Exploud

Duraludon

B- Rank

Escavalier- I’m really just baffled by how mediocre Escavalier really is and its basically Grimmsnarl, but with a steel and bug type pokémon. And I know why it got popular because it’s checks Dragalge and Indeedee-F, but even if Dragalge got unban it will be just mediocre because of its 4times weakness to fire and pokémon like Sylveon, Alola-Exeggutor, Exploud, copperajah, and Indeedee-f that Escavalier could beat on paper, but all of them have a fire move to OHKO Escavalier even if it’s running an Assault Vest, and it’s hates losing its leftovers because it lacks recovery and hates getting status.

Gigalith

Lycanroc

Sandlash

Grimmsnarl

Braviary- while Braviary is pretty mediocre in nu, but the bulk up set can be still viable, but I did tried a Choice Band setand it’s hard, but needs to watch out for revenge Killers and entry hazards.

Stunfisk-Galar

Togedemaru

Virizion

C Rank:

C+ Rank

Ninjask

Froslass

Eldegross

Sceptile

Vailluxe- having a spamming Blizzard is great, but gets easily walled by Stakataka and Copperajah.

Rhydon

C Rank

Tangela

Scyther

Kabutops

Jellicent

Gourgeist

Ferroseed

Druddigon

Magneton

Things I Unranked:

Doublade- it’s pretty terrible, not only having awful Special Defense but lacks a lot of recovery and hates getting it’s evliolite knock off, and this pokemon makes Escavalier and Duraludon as Arceus.

Zoroark- it’s just outclass by other special wallbreaks and it’s just a laughing stock.

Glastrier- slow, week, and hates entry hazard and status

Arcanine- it’s just outclassed by Talonflame.