Resource SV NU Viability Rankings

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Mid tier > High tier
Drifblim is a pokemon that pleasantly surprised me the more I used it in the tier. To start off having the ghost typing in this tier is fantastic, being able to spinblock as well as pivot into the fighting type choice scarfers is excellent. Furthermore it can cripple physical attackers further with Will-O-Wisp and heal itself up with Strength Sap. Since Drifblim survives just about every physical attackers hit, it can retaliate with Strength Sap or Will-O-Wisp and from there it'll be a nightmare to take down. It hits really hard even without any special attack investment with a empowered Hex and the last moveslot can be used for either Haze or Defog, whichever fits your team best. Lastly, with teammates such as Sandaconda or Umbreon you can spread paralysis as well. In the current metagame Glare is a really common move so that furthermore makes it easy for Drifblim to fire off 130bp Hex's

It also beats hazardsetters such as Copperajah, Sandaconda and Qwilfish. Add onto that the ghost typing to block spinners and access to defog to make this a good hazard control pokemon in itself.

With tera typing ground you can also get rid of your electric weakness making it an immunity, getting a rock resistance whilst only retaining the ice weakness which isn't a very common offensive type in the metagame right now.

Here are some calcs with relevant matchups in the tier.

Defensive
Dudunsparce Boomburst vs. Drifblim: 0-0 (0 - 0%) -- possibly the worst move ever
252 Atk Pure Power Medicham Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 184-217 (41.7 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Pure Power Medicham Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 62-73 (14 - 16.5%) -- possible 7HKO
252 Atk Pure Power Medicham Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 230-272 (52.1 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Sandaconda Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 132-156 (29.9 - 35.3%) -- 20.4% chance to 3HKO
252 Atk Bruxish Wave Crash vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 195-229 (44.2 - 51.9%) -- 12.5% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Strong Jaw Bruxish Psychic Fangs vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 205-243 (46.4 - 55.1%) -- 66% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Goodra Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 172 SpD Drifblim: 262-309 (59.4 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Passimian Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 230-272 (52.1 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Passimian Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 156-184 (35.3 - 41.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Passimian Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 180-212 (40.8 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Toxicroak Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 200-237 (45.3 - 53.7%) -- 37.1% chance to 2HKO
16 Atk Copperajah Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 210-248 (47.6 - 56.2%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO
16 Atk Copperajah Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 252+ Def Drifblim: 189-223 (42.8 - 50.5%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO


Offensive
0 SpA Drifblim Hex (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Sandaconda: 171-202 (49.1 - 58%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after burn damage
0 SpA Drifblim Hex (65 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Medicham: 164-194 (62.8 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Drifblim Hex (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Medicham: 324-384 (124.1 - 147.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Drifblim Hex (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Scyther: 153-181 (54.4 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Drifblim Hex (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Bruxish: 344-408 (124.1 - 147.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 

poh

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-> Mid Tier

Despite initially looked at for its great utility with its ability unaware, reliable recovery and ok bulk with eviolite i think it still can't keep up with how offensive the meta can be. Hazards aren't difficult to keep up and that's where you already see one of its flaws. Chansey or haze users like vaporeon and muk have been better options to counter setup mons and often offer more to a team.

-> Mid Tier

Danny already discussed this mon briefly in the np thread and i would like to nom it higher than where it's currently at. Good mix of offensive presence and defensive utility and can hit pretty much everything for at least neutral damage, and is generally not easy to switch into.

-> Mid Tier

Calm Mind sets are ok but nothing special, heavily relies on tera and its one of the few mons that you can rly tell from preview its gonna use it. There are better options that offer more if you want a special attacking setup mon.

-> Low Tier

Let's be serious here this mon will be NU by usage only for the next 2 weeks lol.
 

zS

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:sandaconda: from high to top: I think this mon is the hidden face of the metagame rn. it's been hella popular for the past few weeks both in kick-off and ladder, is one of the most splashable mons and is the best mon we have at spreading paralysis in my opinion. it's also a fantastic wincon with coil sets, our best rocker, and it just compresses so much by also being on of the best status absorbers that in my opinion it deserves a rise to the top tier rank.
:drifblim: from mid to high: I support this nom as fuck, it's by far our best form of consistent hazard control (excluding pompom) and set-up sets are really scary especially thanks to the prominence of the defog set which helps luring them. imo terrain is getting better and better and drifblim is a big part of that, as it is very hard to revenge kill without wasting your tera or without using very specific mons like haze which can get overwhelmed if something else was forced to tera.
:braviary: from high to mid: I think this mon is low-key bad, but it's still a defogger so it deserves some respect. I would honestly just swap it with blimp as the only advantage it has over it is u-turn. it doesn't fog that easily on most rockers, and the ones it defogs well on are also drifblim food, honestly feels outclassed.
:medicham: from high to mid: this mon is so inconsistent I hate it. I've tried super hard to understand where the big hype on this guy came from but it always feels so mid in game. it somehow fails to kill a lot if not cb, but if it's not scarf'd it's too slow, it doesn't have the bulk to back-up the now very expectable trailblaze sets and fails to do consistent damage if trailblaze sets don't use a life orb. and on top of that, passimian Tauros and croak are just more consistent and they happen to be more reliable choices for the fighting type slot on most teams. this feels so outclassed to me that it doesn't deserve a place in the high tier anymore.
:crabominable: low to mid/high: idk where for now I'd support a mid rise but I for sure know that it at least can compete for a high tier slot. its breaking power is nearly unmatched and it keeps a lot in check with av. it's also one of the best defensive tera user other than set-up sweepers the tier has and it can keep in check some of the scariest mons in the tier with tera such as goodra. I think I could see this rise in high in the long run, but for now mid will do I guess.
 
:Electrode: Electrode low tier to mid tier, it out speeds most scarf mons (very notably passimanz) and with terra water it can OHKO sandaconda and other threats, whilst it still gets completely walled by goodra i find it to be a overall slightly worse side grade to jolteon.

:Dugtrio: Dugtrio un ranked to low/mid tier, stab earthquake can rip through most neutral targets and with a choice band can even 2HKO walls and frail resists switching in. also that which resists earthquake will suffer from stone edge.
 
:Electrode: Electrode low tier to mid tier, it out speeds most scarf mons (very notably passimanz) and with terra water it can OHKO sandaconda and other threats, whilst it still gets completely walled by goodra i find it to be a overall slightly worse side grade to jolteon.

:Dugtrio: Dugtrio un ranked to low/mid tier, stab earthquake can rip through most neutral targets and with a choice band can even 2HKO walls and frail resists switching in. also that which resists earthquake will suffer from stone edge.
Anything that can take out Sandaconda has a definitive niche, also makes for a great rain setter too.

Dugtrio also is placed in a great speed tier too as most of the meta is under the base 110 mark, one notable advantage is being able to outspeed +1 speed Modest Frosmoth OHKO with stone edge.
 
As a former longtime AG player who watched as the tier got ripped apart by vivillon HO, I'd like to propose:
:vivillon-fancy: mid->high tier top. See edit below.
Vivillon-Fancy @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Compound Eyes
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Quiver Dance
- Sleep Powder
- Hurricane

I've been toying around with this set and it seems like a solid sweeper on offense/balance teams, and even as a solo-threat on semistall. Petaya berry is opted for over HDB since it actually just doesn't need to preserve its health. This is due to the lack of ways this tier has to outspeed vivillon after a single quiver dance, as it then outspeeds the most common scarfer in Passimian, as well as the fairly common rotom-frost and medicham. Additionally, the tier has no relevant prio for it, as accelrock lycanroc usually is a suicide lead anyway and sucker punchers like toxicroak can be either stuffed with a sleep powder or 50/50'd by staying at 25.1% hp to create a guessing game with substitute.

The admittedly bad-sounding drawback of using vivillon is that it has issues with the two of the other most common mons in the tier, oricorio pom-pom and goodra, due to dancer and sap sipper, respectively. Goodra, however, can be chipped into range due to its lack of recovery and responsibility for switching in on a variety of special attackers in the tier, and oricorio is still vulnerable to sleep powder, meaning that the vivillon player at the very least gains tempo from a sleep on a critical target, and at the very most can still blow past oricorio with confusion luck, as if it tries to avoid sleep powder by letting another mon get slept, +2 vivillon 2hkos defensive oricorio and +1 vivillon 2hkos offensive oricorio ~90% of the time.

+2 252 SpA Vivillon-Fancy Hurricane vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Goodra: 195-231 (50.9 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 SpA Vivillon-Fancy Hurricane vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Oricorio-Pom-Pom: 186-220 (52.6 - 62.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252 SpA Vivillon-Fancy Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Oricorio-Pom-Pom: 140-165 (48.1 - 56.7%) -- 89.8% chance to 2HKO

Edit: With the bannings of oricorio-pom-pom and goodra, who were vivillon's biggest roadblocks, vivillon now has free reign to blast apart the tier. While the venomoth ban isn't particularly consequential, since I still hold that vivillon outclassed it when looking at relevant calcs, venomoth did have an edge on vivillon specifically in the 1-on-1 due to barely outspeeding, so vivillon does like that ban as well.
As a result of that, as well as that vivillon now has the freedom to tera ghost and set up on chansey or dodge a critical normal type attack, I now support:

mid->top
 
Last edited:
Alright time for some noms for the preliminary VR

:Rotom: - Low -> High
Rotom is really good rn, and compresses a lot of roles with a good old fashioned Choice Scarf set. As has been pointed out multiple times in the metagame thread, there are few good ways to actually block Volt Switch, and unlike most of the other Electric type options, Rotom has access to a phenomenal secondary STAB in Shadow Ball to slap any would-be blockers, especially Sandaconda. In addition, Rotom is one of the few mons that retained its access to Trick, which is a fantastic tool to cripple any bulky switch-in that would otherwise wall you all game. Its speed is great, getting the leg up on not only other scarfers, most notably Passimian, but also the plethora of Quiver Dancers, up to offensive Venomoth. It also has much more midgame utility than the monkey, as its typing and ability grant it both excellent defensive utility vital to any team atm but also a (T)Spikes immunity that grants it longevity against Balance teams. This results in some pretty funny situations where if you are up against say.... standard boring Sandaconda sets with Rocks/EQ/Glare/Rest and rocks are already up, Rotom is basically just a free switch into one of the most prominent mons in the tier (just confirm that it doesn't have Stone Edge to slap you). Just the ability to take any one hit from many mons as well as the valuable resistances and immunities Rotom brings to the table makes it very splashable and effective in every MU. I don't even bother running Thunderbolt last, if you really need the extra power, you should be running Tera Electric anyways to shed your Dark weakness. Run Nasty Plot, it gives you a filthy trick for when you well... Trick away your Scarf.

:Camerupt: - Low -> (toward the bottom of) Mid
I started building with this thing bc I was bored and just asked the Smogon gods for a /randpoke, but I ended up pleasantly surprised. It is awkward to build with and tricky to make the most out of the traits that it brings to the table, but make no mistake, this mon is perfectly usable and will destroy you if you aren't careful. Most of this mons niche is premised on something that I've already talked about, the tiers plethora of Electric types. While Sandaconda is a perfectly fine check against some of them, for example forcing Jolteon to either Tera or run Shadow Ball to do anything to it, it is far from perfect with the coverage some like Eelektross and Rotom possess. This is where Camerupt really shines. With a SpDef set, you wall all of the Electrics eternally and retain some useful resistances against a number of other scary special attackers. But what do you actually do back? You click the funny Lava Plume or Will-o-Wisp button and watch your opponent get locked out of the game 6.25% at a time. With a respectable 105 SpAtk, those STAB Lava Plume's hurt even uninvested, so even if there is a "safe" switch into Camerupt in the sense that its already burned, that mon is gonna drop pretty quick without access to recovery. Additionally, you have the secondary Ground STAB to force out all of the Fire types that might try to absorb your burns. Even the bulkiest resists like Goodra really hate their longevity getting cut into with a burn, and all of the other fire types are special attackers that don't actually hit you very hard meanwhile you terrify them with Earth Power. In the last slot you might be tempted to run Stealth Rock, but I'd personally advise against it. You really want to make the most of your ability to blanket check so many mons, and that's simply done better with Protect to maximize Leftovers recovery, which also racks up burn damage and scouts Choice users. You likely will end up fitting another Stealth Rock setter on a team with Camerupt anyways, as it also obviously has very exploitable weaknesses. I've found Tinkatuff to be a pgood partner, even Klawf is acceptable with careful building. Not a world-beater, but a mon to be respected at team preview and worthy of being separated from the likes of Wugtrio.
 

EonX

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Gonna cover what I have experience with:

: Why is this not Top? It's probably the top Pokemon in the tier, and if it isn't, it's definitely part of the big 4 (Goodra, Ori-Pom-Pom, and Passimian being the other 3) that can generally be put on any team and be effective. Don't see a reason this shouldn't be Top Tier.
: Easily the best source of hazard control currently. It can even explore set-up sets too to throw off typical switch-ins, so definitely worthy of High Tier imo.
: I'll be real; I don't like this mon right now. I actively think it's the most overhyped Pokemon in the meta bc if it isn't killing something, it's probably dead. It does nothing for a team's defensive backbone, which is something that can't be said for Paldean Tauros (Intimidate + good natural physical bulk) Crabominable (AV + Tera gives it good special bulk) and Toxicroak (Water immunity gives it free af entry on most Vaporeon variants) It's Scarf set is just a very poor man's Passimian as I'd much rather have Paldea Tauros's higher Speed tier on a Scarf set as it can actually revenge kill +1 QD mons 80% of the time (Stone Miss) unless they've already Tera'd to something neutral to Close Combat. Then it's 100% of the time if Tera Fighting is still available to Tauros. Passimian may also miss out on these QD mons, but it at least will always get something out of its turn; be it item removal through Knock Off, momentum with U-Turn, or a cheeky KO with Rock Slide or Gunk Shot on a predicted switch. If Medicham isn't KOing something, then it's not effectively doing anything as most Fighting resists have reliable recovery (Tera Fairy Sandaconda has Rest. Drifblim and Vespiquen have Roost. Tera Fairy Umbreon has Wish) As for a wallbreaking Fighting type, Crab, Tauros, and Toxicroak are all better I feel because they have an easier time getting in without the aid of teammates. Crab has AV-boosted special bulk, Tauros has Intimidate-aided physical bulk, and Toxicroak has Dry Skin Water immunity to use Vaporeon as an easy point of entry. Medicham has... what exactly? A super strong CC that it has a hard time getting in to use, generally lacks the coverage to thwart CC resists, isn't fast enough with Scarf to differentiate itself from Passimian, and lacks the defensive utility to set itself up with Trailblaze most times. It shouldn't be in the same tier as Toxicroak or Tauros especially, so I'd agree with a drop to Mid.
 
I find it funny how everyone is calling Medicham overrated yet I've never seen anyone praising it lmfao
I think they have forgotten that the only defensive utility Medicham has is trick, I mean that could be good on it's own. Medicham was always a wallbreaker and that isn't going to change anytime soon.
 
I think they have forgotten that the only defensive utility Medicham has is trick, I mean that could be good on it's own. Medicham was always a wallbreaker and that isn't going to change anytime soon.
I'd say medicham is a massive glass cannon with the ability to OHKO everything with drain punch or zen headbut in the tier (which isn't a physical wall)

But with 60 hp and 75 defences it can't live many hits.
 

Rabia

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Medicham is a very tricky case to me because there really isn't consistent defensive counterplay to it. It's a game of guessing which move it'll use, and many of the Fighting-type checks in the tier aren't able to keep up with its other STAB move. I agree with everyone that the limiting factor is its complete lack of utility offered, and that's maybe the one thing that keeps it from being something I'd label as a top-tier Pokemon. For its offensive prowess, though? I still rate it as a high-tier option, albeit lower than I used to (probably the equivalent of A- on a standard VR).
 
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I wasn't gonna post about this mon initially because it is already considered great but I was absolutely shocked by just how amazing this pokemon was when I used it. Im not going to say it is top tier but it is extremely effective. This is the set I am using below

Flying Dutchman (Haunter) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Nasty Plot

First Lets talk about the pokemon that haunter can sub in on. Haunter can currently sub on many viable pokemon those being

Sandaconda (No rock move)
Muk(no third attack also any set that has t spikes toxic protect is extremely unlikely to be able to break)
Chansey
Hattrem
Choiced fighting types (passimian or medicham) you can easily win games by sacking a mon on purpose to a choiced CC and getting a free sub
While this may not seem like a lot most of these mons are metagame staples and it is almost guaranteed that one of them will appear in each battle. Also I have found substituting aggressively in revenge kill situations or on passive moves such as wish. I have found that the more risks you take the more haunter rewards you being extremely high risk high reward. Being aggressive and switching in on fighting normal and ground moves is how I like to play it and has gotten the most reward.

Haunter's speed tier is fantastic Base 95 either ties with or just outruns many metagame staples
Pokemon Haunter outspeeds:
Bruxish
Oricorio
Passimian
Braviary
Mabosstiff
Medicham
Zangoose
Toxicroak
and many more.

Zoroark does outspeed Haunter but I have not really have too many problems with it mostly because you will either be behind a sub or zoro has to switch in and take 80.

Luring Susceptible targets in:
Thankfully Haunter pairs amazingly with one of the best u-turners in the tier which is Passimian. The safest options to try and wall passimian when it comes in happen to be pokemon such as muk, sandaconda or vespiquen. By u turning out with passimian you are now guaranteed a free switch on many of the common sets seen on these pokemon (vespiquen is walled no matter what by haunter). You can easily pair passimian with any other volt switch user to give Haunter even more opportunities.

Having Ghost Poison as stab is an amazing combination. This hits every single pokemon at least neutrally unless it is the uncommon spiritomb. You really only need one nasty plot to be able to break through any pokemon even stuff like umbreon or vaporeon sludge bomb is doing about half worse case scenario you trade leaving the umbreon or vap at minimal health. While Haunter's bulk isnt great it will survive a surf from vap or foul play from umbreon. The only reliable special walls that can check haunter are Spiritomb and Frosmoth. Frosmoth is definitely the most scary counter to Haunter so make sure you have some sort of contingency plan for the moth.

Conclusion
Haunter is god
 
:clawitzer: Mid Tier -> High Tier
Honestly I'm conflicted about this Pokemon, but I think this deserves to be in the lower part of high tier. Part of its appeal comes from the surprise factor because you don't know which pulse moves a Clawitzer might have, but a bulky set with something like Life Orb or Assault Vest can be trouble for a lot of physical attackers, as long as you switch it in safely. It's a great lead or bulky offense and I think it's often overlooked simply because people love fast Pokemon and don't tend to run max HP (Clawitzer's max speed sets just get outsped and KOed by basically everything in the tier) It lacks recovery moves and it's incredibly slow without EV investment but it can tank a hit or two and fires off powerful 120 base power attacks that ignore accuracy checks.

:braviary: High Tier -> Top Tier
I honestly think this is one of the best mons in the NU metagame right now, with Brave Bird being resisted by few Pokemon in the tier, it's very spammable and hard to switch into. With Choice Band or Life Orb, this thing is basically unstoppable if the other team lacks something proper to wall this. Honestly it was better before Goodra got banned because Goodra was such a good switch in for electric moves from Pokemon like Jolteon but it's still a very very solid attacker regardless.

Rotom Frost Mid -> High
Are you kidding me, why is this in mid??? Rotom Frost with choice specs can 2HKO pretty much anything that doesn't resist it, and I agree that it's inconsistent, but with how much offensive power this Pokemon has, I think it definitely deserves high tier at least. This is Rotom-Wash's sibling, after all, and it has the same power level as it, albeit with a worse STAB move, and a much worse typing.
 

plznostep

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What is the niche of using Hattrem? Just curious.
Hattrem is the only viable user of Magic Bounce in this tier, allowing it to function pretty okay on offensive and balance teams alike as a way to stop hazards without running having to run a defog Pokémon such as Drifblim or so on while still having some offensive pressure on the Pokémon. It's pretty nice at blocking hazards from Whiscash and you can then threaten it with Giga Drain, you can do a similar thing to Sandaconda but Hattrem can be a tiny bit weak at times so its not that much damage but forcing Sandaconda to waste some Rest PP is always a pro. It's also a good answer to Medicham, but personally I don't like my fighting answer to be weak to Knock Off. But yeah, that's why Hattrem is used in this tier.
 
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Hattrem is the only viable user of Magic Bounce in this tier, allowing it to function pretty okay on offensive and balance teams alike as a way to stop hazards without running having to run a defog Pokémon such as Drifblim or so on while still having some offensive pressure on the Pokémon. It's pretty nice at blocking hazards from Whiscash and you can then threaten it with Giga Drain, you can do a similar thing to Sandaconda but Hattrem can be a tiny bit weak at times so its not that much damage but forcing Sandaconda to waste some Rest PP is always a pro. It's also a good answer to Medicham, but personally I don't like my fighting answer to be weak to Knock Off. But yeah, that's why Hattrem is used in this tier.
Okay.
 
People, I think I have found a pretty good neiche for Wishcash (yes i know its Whiscash but i just prefer it that way) In the NU metagame as a bulky physical support. Now you might be thinking: "But, random guy here, does it not just have great hp and garbage in every other stat?" Well I would say not. (in showdown at least) I have found what I consider to be a great set. Here is the set if you want to check it out:

Whiscash @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Anticipation
Tera Type: Electric
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Aqua Tail
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Substitute

Put to good use, I hope this set has success in the NU metagame.
 
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