Update time~
Rises
from
A+ to
S: Between the amazing offensive prowess its coverage and Speed offers, great defensive utility, and excellent versatility, Latias has pretty much everything you’d expect of an S-ranked threat. Its flagship 3 Attacks + Roost set offers arguably the tier’s best blend of offensive and defensive potency, though it can tap into its other options like Calm Mind and Choice Specs + Trick excellently. Among the most splashable and centralizing Pokemon around, S perfectly reflects its current place in the metagame.
from
A to
A+: Jirachi has been a steadying presence throughout this year’s Snake Draft, surging as an excellent means of role compression thanks to its great typing and colorful movepool. It’s a solid check to Pokemon like Tapu Bulu and Kyurem that offers fantastic additional tools with Wish, Stealth Rock, and U-turn. Choice Scarf and even mixed attacking sets can also perform well, furthering Jirachi’s applications.
from
A to
A+: Salamence’s widespread surge in usage has allowed it to prove itself as the tier’s most consistent defogger. It possesses both a strong offensive presence and solid defensive applications by virtue of its typing and Intimidate, allowing it to check top shelf Pokemon like Victini and Tapu Bulu.
from
A to
A+: Scizor has reclaimed its niche with offensive Swords Dance and Choice Band sets, its STAB Bullet Punch and the perfect coverage to whittle down its paper checks giving it a ton of value and threat level. It can still tap into its defensive utility well too, with both bulky SD and SpD sets offering a lot to the builds they can be fitted on.
from
A to
A+: Tangrowth checks a legitimately insane amount of incredibly threatening Pokemon in the tier, including Terrakion, Tapu Bulu, and Azumarill, but is a lot less limited than its main competition in Amoonguss with its capacity to run Assault Vest and ability to abuse moves like Knock Off and Earthquake. It’s a strong option and easy fit at the moment thanks to the difficulty teams encounter both breaking past it and pivoting into it.
from
A- to
A: Krookodile has seen consistent usage throughout Snake Draft for the excellent role compression and utility it offers right now. Stealth Rock, Intimidate, and STAB Knock Off are simply excellent teambuilding tools, but it’s also proven plenty capable of adapting, employing Chople Berry more frequently to more easily take on Pokemon like Zeraora and Lycanroc.
from
A- to
A: Stall teams are notably improving in the metagame, which benefits Chansey as a cornerstone of the archetype, though its defensive utility extends to many other teams right now with strong special attackers like Latias, Nidoqueen, and Galarian Moltres persisting as threats.
from
A- to
A: Nidoqueen is another really strong role compression Pokemon right now, its typing and bulk allowing it to check Zeraora while forcing trades with threats like Terrakion and Scizor. It also performs excellently from an offensive perspective with its STABs + Fire Blast being extremely difficult for teams to consistently pivot into.
from
B+ to
A-: Mew provides a ton of utility between being one of the tier’s best hazard leads, offering an emergency check to several powerful threats with its stat spread, and potentially shutting down the majority of UU’s defensive staples with its Taunt set. Cosmic Power sets also pose a solid threat and increase the amount of builds Mew can fit on.
from
B+ to
A-: Moltres poses a great threat with its powerful STAB combo and Nasty Plot, especially as screen teams have employed it to only increase its setup reliability. Its typing also presents excellent utility, allowing it to pivot into Ghost-, Ground-, and Psychic-type moves and giving RestTalk sets a firm niche.
from
B+ to
A-: Galarian Slowbro is carving a niche for itself again, with Calm Mind sets offering great utility thanks to its typing, but also a strong offensive niche once it can begin safely setting up. Grassy Seed sets have also gotten some love, improving both Slowbro’s splashability and durability.
from
B to
B+: In a metagame full of strong offensive archetypes, Grimmsnarl still makes its mark as the tier’s most reliable screens setter thanks to Prankster and the utility its typing and access to moves like Taunt can offer. The ability to pivot into Latias’ STABs is super valuable and allows it to further set itself apart from Alolan Ninetales.
from
B to
B+: Grassy Seed sets have given Reuniclus a more definable niche as a solid bulky wincon on terrain teams. After the defense boost it can easily take on the tier’s main Dark-type in Krookodile, while another traditional obstacle in physical wallbreakers like Terrakion and Mamoswine becomes a lot easier to bypass, giving it a lot of current potency.
from
B- to
B: Quagsire is another staple of stall teams that are seeing more recent usage, its good typing and Unaware allowing it to check popular Pokemon like Zeraora, Scizor, and Dragon Dance Salamence.
from
B- to
B: Stakataka’s presence was being a bit underrated in B-. Its typing allows it to answer to Latias fairly effectively while pivoting in on Jirachi and special Salamence, and OTR sets can highly threaten a lot of popular offensive builds late-game.
from
B- to
B: Several teams straight up lack sturdy counterplay to Toxtricity, allowing it to put in serious work with Choice Specs. Shift Gear is also alright for boosting its offense matchup and fits well on a few of the tier’s popular hyper offensive builds.
from
C+ to
B: Polteageist really thrives in a metagame without Ghost-type sweepers to compete with, one of its main checks in Incineroar falling off, and a general lack of sturdy resists to its STAB. It makes for a strong fit on screens or hazard stacking offenses and can bypass the tier’s most common Dark-type in Krookodile with boosted Giga Drain.
from
C+ to
B-: Zydog is a super underrated offensive threat with one of the best Speed tiers in the metagame, allowing it to pressure top threats like Terrakion and Latias. It also possesses arguably the most spammable move in the game in Thousand Arrows, giving Choice Band sets a real niche in such an offensive metagame.
Drops
from
A+ to
A: The metagame has generally adapted to Celesteela’s presence, with trends like the increased presence of Knock Off, Liquid Ooze Tentacruel being used as a tech for Leech Seed, and other Steel-types like Jirachi giving it more opportunity cost than previously. Its susceptibility to chip damage has simply become easier to exploit, though it’s still a plenty defining defensive presence and Autotomize sets can be very threatening.
from
A to
A-: Alakazam faces heavy competition from Latias, who offers stronger coverage for the tier’s relevant Steel-types with Mystical Fire and actual defensive utility with its typing, bulk, and set variety. Its frailty can also be easy to exploit given the popularity of Zeraora and priority users like Azumarill and Bisharp.
from
A to
A-: Despite providing one of the tier’s most devastating wallbreaking prowesses, Conkeldurr struggles to actually achieve its full potential due to the highly offensive nature of the metagame. It’s fairly prone to taking heavy damage from the tier’s many powerful faster threats, and due to Flame Orb recoil doesn’t offer as much defensive utility as it’d like. Terrakion also offers heavy competition, making Conkeldurr an awkward fit.
from
A to
A-: Kyurem is an excellent wallbreaker but suffers pretty significant opportunity cost given the large amount of great Dragon-types right now. Latias particularly also offers a solid offensive presence but has a typing, ability, and movepool that lend themselves far more to overall defensive utility. Jirachi and Scizor surging also forces Choice Specs Kyurem on its toes a bit more.
from
A- to
B+: Gyarados has fallen far from its previous grace and is just a bit of an awkward sweeper in general. It struggles bypassing Pokemon like Celesteela even after a boost, is forced to run a Jolly nature to outrun Zeraora at +1, and has a hard time choosing either an ability, coverage, or its item. In general, it just requires a lot more support than before to get going despite its great snowballing potential.
from
A- to
B+: Hatterene struggles to bypass popular Steel-types like Jirachi, Scizor, and Celesteela that can easily pressure it and also has more competition for its typing slot than in previous iterations of the metagame, especially given how good Azumarill and Primarina currently are.
from
A- to
B+: Rotom-W can’t counteract the presences of Zeraora, Amoonguss, and Tangrowth as easily as its main competition in Rotom-H, who can hit the latter two super effectively and resists both Giga Drain and Plasma Fists. Its typing also just doesn’t check as many prominent Pokemon as before, especially with Latias on top of the metagame.
from
A- to
B+: Despite checking Scizor and Azumarill, Volcanion is a bit of an awkward fit currently. It struggles to reliably work around the tier’s several popular Dragon-types, while other Water-type breakers like Keldeo and Primarina offer more through their typings, coverage, and set versatility.
from
B+ to
B: Haxorus simply suffers too much opportunity cost given the presence of several Dragon-types that offer far more utility. It can’t really bring much to teams defensively, while Dragon Dance sets face pretty stiff competition with Salamence. This really only leaves SD + Scale Shot for a defined niche, which just doesn’t currently justify B+.
from
B+ to
B: Incineroar has fallen way off as a defensive pivot with Terrakion/Keldeo/Azumarill all being top breakers and most of the meta’s other top Pokemon being able to muscle past it on their own fairly reliably. It can still check Pokemon like Victini and Chandelure while making great progress with its support movepool, but simply doesn’t offer as urgent of utility nowadays.
from
B+ to
B: Alolan Ninetales has generally fallen off as a screens setter in favor of Grimmsnarl, with its lacking defensive utility and hail chip growing easier to exploit.
from
B+ to
B: Togekiss struggles significantly to make progress in a metagame full of top Pokemon that heavily pressure it, including Scizor, Jirachi, Terrakion, and Zeraora. Its typing and movepool also just don’t offer particularly useful defensive utility at the moment.
from
B to
B-: Cobalion unfortunately hasn’t kicked off in the DLC2 meta, largely due to the awkwardness of being a Steel-type that can’t reliably check things you’d want it to, like Latias, Kyurem, and Alakazam. It suffers opportunity cost with various Steel- and Fighting-types being such good picks and overall doesn’t have an easily definable niche it can claim right now.
from
B to
B-: Gastrodon still has a decent niche as a Ground-type with recovery, but struggles to find many reliable matchups against top tier Pokemon barring Zeraora. It also suffers some competition in the Ground-type slot with rising rockers like Krookodile and Nidoqueen.
from
B to
B-: Poor Noivern is far past its prime, with UU’s several great Dragon-types severely eating into its splashability. It suffers severe opportunity cost with Salamence surging as such a strong pick in the metagame, but carves out a small niche still with its Speed tier, which is useful for revenge killing the likes of Latias, Terrakion, and Keldeo.
from
B- to
C+: Azelf struggles a ton to actually define a niche for itself. Suicide lead sets are probably its best bet in the meta but face pretty significant competition from Mew, while Fire-type coverage is really the only niche Nasty Plot sets offer over Alakazam. It has a lot of options due to its movepool, but simply too much competition for each of the roles it can take on.
from
B- to
C: Durant is super hard to justify with Scizor in the tier, but can still carve a small niche with its better immediate damage output, great Speed, and access to First Impression, which prevents it from being fully unranked.
from
C+ to
C: Arctozolt only fits on hail builds with Alolan Ninetales which aren’t particularly good or easy to put together at the moment. Bolt Beak + its Water- and STAB Ice-type coverage can really be menacing, but is currently quite difficult to harness to its full potential.
from
C+ to
C: Alolan Marowak suffers a lot of the same problems it did in USUM, such as its reliance on Thick Club and paltry Speed really limiting its longevity and overall defensive utility, though it still has a solid niche where it can be fitted.
from
C to
C-: This just doesn’t have as identifiable a niche in the metagame as it once did. First Impression alongside the defensive utility its typing and utility moves offer is still worth a slot on some teams, but it’s just very niche at this point compared to its heyday.
from
C to
C-: Porygon-Z has seen far better days, its awful defensive utility and shaky Speed tier making the tier's many other options for special wallbreakers/sweepers much easier to justify. It just doesn't have much of place right now despite its scary damage output.
from
C to
UR: Heliolisk offers an Aqua Jet immunity and some good special coverage, but really not much else to warrant a spot on teams compared to Zeraora, who offers far more utility and variety.
from
C- to
UR: None of these Pokemon have proven that they are worth using enough for a rank. Glastrier and Uxie only fit on Trick Room teams which haven’t kicked off at all, Sandslash fits on an ultra specific archetype that isn’t good right now, Talonflame requires far too much support than is worth to reliably sweep, and Lucario is good in theory but just doesn’t offer enough over the tier’s absolute multitude of Fighting-types it has to compete with.